Security in a Changing World: From Life and Property to Human Dignity, and Why the West is Undermining Progress |
The idea of security in the context of the international political order is undergoing marked change; many of these changes, however, are negative in nature.
Traditional security means ensuring the protection of territorial sovereignty integrity and the protection of the lives and livelihood of citizens. The traditional idea of security is the outcome of what the late political scientist Joseph Nye calls ‘hard power’—a combination of military, economic and diplomatic power which is wielded to enhance the martial power profile of a state.
The idea of traditional security originated with the emergence of the modern state system following the peace of Westphalia in the 17th century. Since then, the changing tides of history contributed to the emergence of newer nation-states.
As time passed, the nature of technology evolved, contributing to the corresponding changes in the politics and economies of societies and institutions globally. All these changes contributed to the emergence of the age of globalization in the 1990s and popularized the idea of non-traditional security.
Non-traditional security (NTS) is concerned with the idea of ‘human security.’ It lays emphasis on the fulfillment of basic human needs and aspirations that can enable individuals to live a dignified life. The outcome of this dimension of security was the Human Development Index (HDI).
Having given a broad overview of the changing dimensions of security, it becomes essential to present a critique of how the actions of West contributed to undermining many of the dimensions of non-traditional security for a large section of the global........