Human security concepts and policy frameworks

Human Security

'Development' and the Imperative of Global Human Security

Over the course of the last century, a highly loaded discourse has persisted in which nations have been categorically distinguished as being either 'developed' or 'developing.' And indeed, the term 'developing,' rather euphemistic in its appellation, has been used to replace the more derogatory ethnocentrism of the 'third world' label previously reserved for nations struggling to develop in the face of poverty, limited resources, governmental instability and histories laced with colonial occupation. This denotes that to an extent, the discussion on the development within these spheres is evolving. Such is the argument at the center of the article by Stewart (2004), which reports to the expanding understanding of development that is driving strategy in the developing sphere.

Primarily, Stewart focuses on the imperative of security, which the author characterizes as having gained significantly in importance in correspondence to the widening understanding of what is meant by developmental progress. No longer, Stewart argues, is it considered sufficient to use a nation's GDP, GNP or other purely economic indicators to properly assess the success of development. Security, by contrast, is a concept which Stewart argues is interwoven with economy, governance and infrastructure in a way that captures the stability and improved living standards associated with progress. It is thus that he engages a discussion which characterizes 'human security' as an inherent function of development and vice versa.

This view is underscored in the language used by the United Nations Development Programme, which "developed the concept of 'human security' to encompass not just the achievement of minimal levels of material needs, but also the absence of severe threats to them of an economic or political kind: 'job security, income security, health security, environmental security, security from crimes -- these are the emerging concerns of security all over the world.'" (p. 262)

This characterization helps to clarify what Stewart sees as the reciprocal relationship between security and all aspects of civil solidity. In today's parlance on the subject, security is frequently assumed to relate directly to military and defense matters. And certainly, this is military domain is a dominant function of 'security' as an objective. But Stewart also speaks of security as an objective of development on the whole, extending its definition to imply the presence of infrastructural soundness; the establishment of a government, peacekeeping and law-enforcing presence that is stable and fair; the creation of an economy that is dynamic and efficient; the provision on suitable public programs in education, employment, etc.; and the general pursuit of a higher threshold for living and resource distribution.