Human Security: Concepts and Implications

by Anuradha M. Chenoy, Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh

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This book traces the key evolutions in the development of the concept of human security, the various definitions and critiques, how it relates to other concepts, and what it implies for polities, politics, and policy. Besides charting the territory and structuring the debate on a concept that is rapidly gaining importance in international policy making circles, it responds to an intellectual need. In a globalizing world, in which threats become transnational and states lose power, security can no longer be studied in a one-dimensional fashion. Instead, it must be conceptualized from an interdisciplinary point of view, taking into account a variety of variables as well as their interactions. This book contributes to this new multidimensional conception of security, showing its strengths and weaknesses, and its implications for analysis and action. Case studies from different regions (Afghanistan, Central Asia and South Asia) are presented throughout so as to elucidate the arguments which center on the following question: Does the concept of human security introduce a fundamental shift in approach or is it a new name for old solution, another popular label affixed to conventional policies? Why are there so many definitions and critiques? Is the concept utopian or does it have practical implications? How can we evaluate policies using a human security framework? What is the added value of a human security approach in re-examining theories of security, development and human rights? What are the roles, responsibilities and capacities of the state and the international community within a new security vision? What are the roles, responsibilities and capacities of the state and the international community within a new security vision? How to reconcile calls for a global vision of security versus national sovereignty and cultural relativism? Do ethical norms have a role in international relations? How does foreign aid help or hamper the provision of human security? As a concept born out of the end of the Cold War, is it still relevant in the post September 11th reactions and the revived focus on national security?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anuradha M. Chenoy

Anuradha M. Chenoy is Professor in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi, where she has been the Chairperson and Director of the Areas Studies Program for Russia and Central Asia. She has also been on the governing bodies of several institutions in India and internationally, and has served as a specialist for various meetings of the United Nations. She writes extensively in journals and newspapers on international relations, gender and social issues.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh

Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh is the Director of the CERI Program for Peace and Human Security at l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, where she teaches courses on human security and on international organizations and is editor of the Human Security Journal, an online publication. She has also taught on human security as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in New York. Between 1995 and 2002, she was a staff member of the United Nations Developmetn Programme, and currently continues to work as a consultant with teams preparing national Human Development Reports. She has written numerous articles on human development, human security and gender issues as well as on the application of these discourses in Central Asia and in Afghanistan.