Security in the contemporary world
Class: 12th
- Subject: Political Science
- Topic: Security in the contemporary world
- Resources: Notes, Important Questions
Class 12 (Political science ) -Security in the contemporary world
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Meaning of Security
Human existence and the life of a country are full of threats. Only those things that threaten 'core values' should be. regarded as being of interest in discussions of security. Security refers to freedom from threats and it protects the core values. Thus, security only relates to extremely dangerous threats which could endanger our core values. Security is required for each system element, since the destruction of any of the system elements will result in destruction of the whole system.
Security can be categorised into different notions that are discussed below
Traditional Notions: External
In the traditional notion of security, the most substantial danger to a country is from military threats. The root cause of this danger is the other country which by threatening military action endangers the core values of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. Further, it also endangers the lives of ordinary citizens.
To respond to a threat of war, a government has three basic options which are
To surrender.
To prevent the other side from attacking by promising to raise the costs of war to an unacceptable level.
To defend itself when war actually breaks out so as to deny the attacking country its objectives and to turn back to defeat the attacking forces altogether. Government may choose to surrender when they actually confronted by war.
Components of Traditional Security
There are four components of traditional security which are discussed below
(i) Deterrence : The security policy which is concerned with preventing a war is called deterrence.
(ii) Defence : The security policy which is concerned with limiting or ending war is called defence.
(iii) Balance of Power :The third component of traditional security policy is balance of power which means there should be balance between bigger and smaller countries.
A balance of power can be maintained by building up the military power as well as the economic and technological powers.
(iv) Alliance Building : An alliance is a coalition of states that coordinate their actions to defend against military attacks. These alliances are mostly formalised in written treaties and are based on identification of who constitutes the threat. Alliances are formed by countries to increase their power as compared to another country.
The main aim of military alliance is to from alliances with other countries to increase their effective powers of the state entered in alliance relative to another country or alliance. It also focusses on to maintain balance of power in a region.
Alliances are formed on national interests and can be changed when national interests change. For example, in the 1980's, the US backed the Islamic militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. But later US attacked. them when AL Qaeda led by Osama Bin Laden launched terrorist attacks against them on 11th September, 2001.
Traditionally, most threats to a country's security arise from outside its borders because in the international system there is no central power of controlling behaviour. The threat of violence is regulated by the government within the country. In the world politics, each country has to be responsible for its own security.
Threats to security require co-operation rather than military confrontation. Military forces may be used against terrorism but not for alleviating poverty or to control health epidemics. As a result, Nuclear weapons as deterrence or defence have limited usage against contemporary security threats to states.
Traditional Notions: Internal
Traditional security must concern itself with internal security which has not been given so much importance due to various reasons. As most of the European countries didn't faced any serious threats from groups or communities living near the borders. 1939-45
After Second World War, there was a setting and circumstance in which internal security did not appear to be as important as it had been in that past.
After 1945, the United State and Soviet Union appeared to be united and could look forward to peace within their own borders. The majority of European countries, faced no severe threats from within border groups or communities. As a result, these countries concentrated their efforts mostly on dangers from beyond their boundaries.
During the Cold War, the two military alliances i.e., US-led Western alliance and Soviet-led communist alliance feared a military attack from each orther. Some European powers also continued to worry about violence in their colonies who wanted independence.
After the colonies became free, their security concerns were similar to that of the European powers. Some of them also became members of the Cold War alliances. The cold War between the two superpowers was responsible for approximately one-third of all wars in the post-second World War period.
On the other hand, the newly independent countries of Asia, Africa faced prospect of military conflict with neighbouring countries. These countries also faced threats from within like from the separatist movements which wanted to form independent countries.
They also had to be concerned about internal military conflict. These countries were threatened not just from the outside, mostly from their neighbours, but also from inside. Many newly independent countries began to fear their neighbours more than they did the United States, the Soviet Union or old colonial powers. They fought over boundaries and territory, as well as control of people and populations or all three at the same time.
Internal wars make up now for more than 95 per cent of all armed conflicts fought anywhere in the world. There was a twelve-fold rise in the number of Civil Wars between 1946 and 1991. Thus, for new states external and internal wars posed a serious challenge to their security.
Non-Traditional Notions
Non-traditional notions of security go beyond military-threats to include a wide range of threats affecting the conditions of human existence. It focuses on 'Human Security' and 'Global Security' which are also different types of Security.
Human security
It refers to the protection of people more than the protection of states. Here, secure state does not mean secure people. Like For instance, more people have been killed by their own governments rather than by the foreign armies in the last 100 years.
The proponents of human security held their primary goal as the protection of individuals from violent threats, which constitute the narrow concept of human security. Proponents of broad concept of human security held that more people are killed due to hunger, disease and natural calamities. Thus, human security agenda also encompasses economic security and 'threats to human dignity'.
Global Security
This idea came up in the 1990's in response to the global nature of threats like global warming, international terrorism and health epidemics like AIDS and bird flu, etc.
These problems can't be resolved by a single country rather a comprehensive effort of all the countries is required to deal with such issues. For example, due to global warming, rise of sea level is evident i.e. of 1.5-2.0 meters which would flood 20% of Bangladesh, most of the Maldives and threaten half of the population of Thailand. Since these problems are global in nature and international cooperation is intrå essential.
Traditional Security and Cooperation
In traditional security, there is a recognition that cooperation in limiting violence is possible. These limits relates both to the ends and the means of war. Countries have also accepted that they should only go to war for the right reasons only such as, self defence or to protect other people from genocide.
War must also be limited in terms of the means that are used Armies must avoid killing or hurting non-combatants as well as unarmed and surrending combatants. Force must in any case be used only after all the alternatives have failed.
Traditional views of security should include all other forms of disarmament, arms control and confidence building. cooperation and the most important of these are
Disarmament
Disarmament bounds states to give up certain kinds of weapons to avoid mass destruction. Disarmament requires all states to give up certain weapons, like the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) banned the production and possession of these weapons. More than 155 states agreed to the BWC and 181 states agreed to the CWC
Both the conventions included all the great powers, but the superpowers-the US and Soviet Union did not want to give up the chemical weapons of mass destruction, namely, nuclear weapons, so they pursued the policy of arms control.
Arms Control
Arms control regulates the acquisition of development of weapons. The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 1972 tried to stop the US and Soviet Union from using ballistic missiles as a defence shield to launch a nuclear attack. It stopped both the countries from large scale production (NPT) of defensive system. The US and Soviet Union signed a number of other arms control treaty including
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II (SALT),
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968.
The NPT was an arms control treaty which regulated the acquisition of nuclear weapons. Those countries that had tested and manufactured nuclear weapons before 1967 were allowed to keep their weapons and those that had not done so were to give up the right to acquire them. The NPT did not abolish nuclear weapons, rather it limited the number of countries that could have them.
Security as Confidence Building
Traditional security also accepts confidence building as a means of avoiding violence. It is a process in which countries share ideas and information with their rivals, such as the military intentions and their plans, the kind of forces they possess and their deployment. It can be said that, confidence building is a process designed to ensure that rivals do not go to war through misunderstanding or misperception.
New Sources of Threats
Some of the new sources of threats evident at the global level today are discussed below
Terrorism
Terrorism refers to systematic use of brutal violence that creates an atmosphere of fear in the society. International terrorism involves the citizens or territory of more than one country. It is used for many purposes especially the politico-religious purposes in a prominent manner. Civilian targets are chosen to terrorise the public and use this as a weapon against national governments. It involves hijacking planes or planting bombs in trains, cafes, markets and other crowded places.
There could be three broad meanings of Terrorism
(i) A systematic use of terror, often violent, especially as a means of coercion.
(ii) These are violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror); are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non- combatants or civilians.
(iii) Terrorism is defined as acts of unlawful violence and war.
Since, the 9/11 terrorist attack on America, other governments and public have paid more attention to terrorism. Most of terror attacks have occurred in the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and South Asia in the past.
There is not a single nation in the world that does not suffer from terrorism. Although, some countries have tried to divide terrorism into good and bad terrorism. India has always denied this difference. India's current Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi held that terrorism can't be divided into good or bad rather it's a global problem which should be handled collectively.
Threats to Human Rights
Human rights refer to basic rights of human beings. They are classified into three types
(i) Political rights such as freedom of speech and assembly.
(ii) Economic and social rights.
(iii) The right of colonised people of ethnic and indigenous minorities.
There is no agreement on which set of rights should be considered as universal human rights or the rules of action (by the international community) on the violation of rights.
Since the 1990's, the developments such as Iraq's invasion in Rwanda and the Indonesian military's killing of people in East Timor have led to a debate that the UN should interfere to stop human abuses or not. Some argue that the UN Charter empowers the international community to take up arms to defend the human rights. Whereas others said that powerful states will determine on what instance human rights violations is considered by the UN.
Global Poverty
Global poverty signifies a condition available in the states ranging from low incomes to less economic growth. It is another source of insecurity for the people. Currently, half of the world's population occurs in only six countries that are the population of the poorest nations are expected to triple in India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia.what the next fifty years. The population of rich countries will experience population decrease in that period.
High per capita income and low population growth make rich state get richer, while the low incomes and high population growth make poor states poorer. On a global scale, this disparity contributes to the gap between the Northern and Southern countries of the world.
Disparities have also sharpened within South as few countries have managed to control population growth and raise incomes while others have failed in this process. For example most of the world's armed conflicts now take place in sub-Saharan Africa, which is also the poorest region of the vorld. More people were being killed in wars in this region than in the rest of the world combined.
The problem of poverty in the South led to large scale migration for better economic opportunities in the North. This has led to political frictions at the international level. A distinction is made between refugees and migrants in the International laws. States are supposed to accept refugees but not the migrants.
Migration
Poverty in South has prompted large scale migration to the North in search of a better life, particularly greater economic possibilities. International political tensions have resulted as a result of this. International law and conventions distinguish between migrants as those who leave their home nations voluntarily and refugees are those who are forced to escape their homes or those who flee from war, natural disaster or political persecution.
States are required to take refugees by law, but they are not required to welcome migrants. Individuals who have fled their homes but remain within national borders are referred to as 'internally displaced people', as opposed to refugees who leave their country of origin.
Health Epidemics
Epidemics refer to HIV-AIDS, bird flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have rapidly spread across countries through migration, business, tourism and military operations. Here, one country's success or failure in limiting the spread of infections in other countries. It was estimated that worldwide, two-third of HIV-AIDS infected people are in Africa and the rest are in South-Asia, The new drug. these treatments were too expensive for the poor regions
New diseases like Ebola virus, hantavirus and hepatitis C have emerged and old diseases like Tuberculosis, malaria. that are difficult to treat. There is a need for international dengue and cholera have developed into drug resistant form cooperation to handle health epidemics issues in a better way. Epidemics among animals also have major economic effects. mad-cow disease outbreak and bird-flu that shut down Britain has lost billions of dollars of income during a supplies of poultry exports from Asian countries. We cannot include any kind of desease in the ambit of security. To qualify as a security issue, it must share a minimum criterion, say, of threatening the very existence of the referent.
For example, A big part of the territory of Maldives may be submerged with the rising sea level, so Maldives may feel threatened by global warming whereas HIV-AIDS poses a serious threat in countries of Southern Africa. This shows that conceptions of security vary according to local contexts.
COVID-19 Pandemic
Covid-19 is an infectious disease which spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It was first identified in China in December 2019, has caused an outbreak of respiratory illness that the WHO named COVID-19 in February 2020. It has led to dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health, food systems and the world of work.
The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic is devastating: tens of millions of people are at risk of falling into extreme poverty in the world. Now is the time for global solidarity and support, especially with the most vulnerable in our societies, particularly in the emerging and developing world. There is a need to develop long-term sustainable strategies to address the challenges faced by the health sector nowadays.
Cooperative Security
Dealing with certain non-traditional threats to security require cooperation rather than military confrontation.
Military force may help in combating terrorism or in enforcing human rights but it is of no use in combating poverty, manage migration and refugee movements or control epidemics. Thus, military forces would only make matters worse in most of the cases.
Therefore, it becomes important to devise strategies that involve international cooperation. The cooperation may be bilateral (i.e. between any two countries), regional continental or global. The type of cooperation would deper on the nature of the threat and the willingness and ability of countries and ability of countries to respond. Cooperative security may also involve variety of other players, both international and national organisations for example, Amnesty International, the Red Cross, private foundations and charities, churches and religious organisations, trade unions, associations, social and development organisations and great personalities e.g., Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa.
Cooperative security may involve the use of force as a last resort. To deal with governments that kill their own people or ignore the misery of their populations, the international community may have to sanction the use of force. It may have to agree to the use of violence against international terrorists and those who harbour them.
The use use of Non-traditional security is much better when the community rather than when an individual country decides to use force on its own.
India's Security Strategy
India has faced traditional and non-traditional threats to its security that have emerged from within as well as outside its borders. India's security depends upon well as four broad components. These are
Strengthening the Military Capabilities
The first component was the strengthening the military capabilities of India's security strategy because India has been involved in conflicts with its neighbours. Pakistan in 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and 1999 and China in 1962. Since it is surrounded by nuclear-armed countries in the South Asian region. India's decision to conduct nuclear tests in 1998 was justified by the Indian government in terms of safeguarding national security. India first tested a nuclear device in 1974.
Strengthening International Norms and Institutions
The second component of India's security strategy has been to strengthen international norms and international institutions to protect its security interests. India took various initiatives to bring about a universal and non-discriminatory non-proliferation regime which will provide all the countries same rights and obligations with respect to weapons of mass destruction e.g. nuclear, biological or chemical. It argued for an equitable New International Economic Order (NIEO). It used non-alignment to help carve out an area of place outside the bloc politics. India joined 160 countries that have signed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which provides a strategy for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases to check global warming. Indian troops have been sent abroad on UN Peace keeping missions in support of cooperative security initiatives.
Meeting Security Challenges
The third important component of India's security strategy is geared towards meeting security challenges within the country. Several militant groups from areas such as the Nagaland, Mizoram, Punjab and Kashmir among others have from time to time desired to break away from India.
India has tried to preserve national unity by adopting a democratic political system, which allows different communities and groups of people to freely articulate their grievances and share political power.
Developing Economy
The fourth component is to develop its economy in a way that the vast mass of citizens are lifted out of poverty and misery and huge economic inequalities are not allowed to exist. This attempt is not successful, people in our country are still very poor and inequality is there. Yet democratic politics allows spaces for articulating the voice of the poor and deprived citizens. There is a pressure on democratically elected governments to combine economic growth with human development.