Security in the Contemporary World Class 12 Political Science

Security in the contemporary world, as discussed in the textbook, encompasses various dimensions beyond traditional military defense. It includes aspects such as economic stability, environmental sustainability, social justice, and protection against non-traditional threats like terrorism and cyber-attacks. This broader perspective recognizes the interconnectedness of global challenges and the need for comprehensive approaches to ensure the safety and well-being of nations and their citizens.

What do we mean by Security?

The basic meaning of security is freedom from threats. But it is not possible to be safe from all kinds of dangers because every human being is always under some danger or the other.

For example-

• Danger of getting into an accident while driving.
• Danger of cutting hands while cutting vegetables.
• Risk of falling and injury while playing.

If efforts are made to avoid all these dangers, no human can lead a normal life. For this reason, only those threats are considered to be a threat to the safety of a person, which damages the core values of that person. In other words, the life or liberty of that person is at risk.

Traditional Notions of External Security

• A nation is most at risk from military threats. The other nation, which puts the basic principles of sovereignty and independence in danger by threatening military action, is the source of this threat.
• In response to the threat of war, the government has three choices. These choices include four traditional security measures, namely deterrence, defence, balance of power, and alliance building, as well as surrendering, preventing the opposing side from attacking, and defending oneself throughout the battle.
• Defense, which refers to limiting or putting an end to wars, deterrence, balance of power, and alliance formation are all terms used to describe ways to prevent war.
• A good part of maintaining a balance of power is to build up one’s military power that coordinate their actions to deter or defend against military attack.
• According to the traditional view of security, most threats to a country’s security come from outside its borders.
• Within a country, the threat of violence is regulated by an acknowledged central authority i.e. the government.
• But in world politics, each country is in charge of ensuring its own security.

Traditional Notions of Internal Security

• Traditional security must concern itself with internal security which has not been given so much importance due to various reasons.
• Internal security was more or less guaranteed to the world's most powerful nations after the Second World War.
• The majority of European nations did not experience any significant challenges from communities or groups residing within those boundaries. Therefore, these nations placed a high value on international security.
• The main concern for the external security was the era of Cold War. Both the superpowers were afraid of attacks from each other.
• The colonies which became independent were under fear of conversion of Cold War into a Hot War.
• The newly independent African and Asian countries were more worried about the prospect of military conflict with neighbouring countries.
• They were concerned about internal challenges posed by separatist movements seeking to establish independent nations.

Traditional Security and Cooperation

• It is universally accepted that war can be fought for just causes, namely self-defense or defending others from genocide.
• Traditional views of security also gives importance to other forms of cooperation like disarmament, arms control and confidence building.
• Disarmament requires all states to give up certain kinds of weapons.
• The development or acquisition of weapons is governed by arms control; for instance, the United States and the Soviet Union signed a number of other arms control treaties.
• Confidence building means a process in which countries share ideas and information with their rivals.
• Force is both the principle threat to security and the principle means of achieving security in traditional security.

Non-Traditional Notions

• The non-traditional ideas of security encompass a wide range of risks and dangers influencing the situation of human living in addition to military concerns.
• Non-traditional views of security have been called ‘human security’ or ‘global security’.
• By human security we mean the protection of people more than the protection of states.
• Proponents (supporters) of the ‘narrow concept’ of human security focus on violent threats to individuals.
• On the other hand, proponents of the "broad concept" of human security contend that hunger, disease, and natural disaster should all be considered threats.
• The idea of global security emerged in the 1990s in response to the global nature of threats such as global warming, AIDS and so on.

New Sources of Threats

• The world is deeply concerned about several new threat sources that have emerged. These include terrorism, human rights, extreme poverty around the world, migration, and health epidemics.
• Terrorism refers to political violence that targets civilians deliberately and indiscriminately.
• There are three types of human rights. The first is political rights, second is economic and social rights and the third type is the rights of colonised people.
• Another type of insecurity is global poverty. Rich states are becoming richer whereas poor states are getting poorer.
• Poverty in the South has also led to large scale migration to seek a better life, especially better economic opportunities, in the North.
• Health epidemics such as HIV-AIDS, bird flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have been increasing across countries through migration.
• It is important to understand that the expansion of the concept of security does not mean to include everything.
• An issue must meet a minimal common requirement in order to be considered a security problem.

Cooperative Security

• In some security-related situations, cooperation is preferable to military conflict. While military assistance can be used to combat terrorism, it is useless in addressing problems like poverty, migration, and other similar ones.
• It becomes important to devise strategies that involve international cooperation which can be bilateral, regional, continental or global.
• Cooperative security may also involve a variety of other players, both international and national.
• However, as a last resort, the use of force may also be part of cooperative security. To deal with dictatorship, the international community may need to sanction the use of force.

India’s Security Strategy

• Indian’s security strategy depends upon four broad components
• Strengthening the military capabilities is the first component of India’s security strategy because India has been involved in conflicts with its neighbours.
• The second component of India’s security strategy has been to strengthen international norms and international institutions to protect its security interests.
• The third important component of India’s security strategy is geared towards meeting security challenges within the country.
• The fourth component is to develop its economy in a way that the vast mass of citizens are lifted out of poverty and misery.