What is Security?
• Security implies freedom from threats. Security relates only to extremely dangerous threats that could so endanger core values that those values would be damaged beyond repair if we did not do something to deal with the situation.
Traditional Notions: External
• The greatest danger to a country is from military threats. The source of this danger is another country which by threatening military action endangers the core values of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
• In response to the threat of war, there are three choices with the government, to surrender; to prevent
the other side from attacking by promising to raise the costs of war to an unacceptable level; and to defend itself.
• Security policy is concerned with preventing war, which is called deterrence, and with limiting or ending war, which is called defence.
• Balance of power means there should be balance between bigger and smaller countries.
• Alliance building means a coalition of states that coordinate their actions to deter or defend against military attack.
• In the traditional view of security, most threats to a country’s security come from outside its borders because the international system is a rather brutal arena in which there is no central authority capable of controlling behaviour.
• Within a country, the threat of violence is regulated by an acknowledged central authority - the government.
Traditional Notions: Internal
• Traditional security concern itself with internal security. After the Second World War, internal security was more or less assured to the powerful countries on the Earth.
• Most of the European countries faced no serious threats from groups or communities living within those borders. Hence these countries gave importance to external security.
• The security challenges facing the newly-independent countries of Asia and Africa were different from the challenges Europe in two ways.
→ The new countries faced the prospect of military conflict with neighbouring countries.
→ They had to worry about internal military conflict.
• Internally, the new states worried about threats from separatist movements which wanted to form independent countries.
Traditional Security and Cooperation
• In traditional security, there is a recognition that cooperation in limiting violence is possible. These limits relate both to the ends and the means of war.
• Traditional views of security also mean disarmament, arms control, and confidence building.
• Arms control regulates the acquisition or development of weapons. In 1992, the AntiBallistic Missile (ABM) Treaty tried to stop the United States and Soviet Union from using ballistic missiles as a defensive shield to launch a nuclear attack.
• US and Soviet Union signed a number of other arms control treaties including the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty II or SALT II and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 was an arms control treaty that regulated the acquisition of nuclear weapons.
• Traditional security also accepts confidence building as a means of avoiding violence. Confidence building is a process in which countries share ideas and information with their rivals.
• In traditional security, force is both the principal threat to security and the principal means of achieving security.
Non-Traditional Notions
• Non-traditional notions security go beyond military threats to include a wide range of threats and dangers affecting the conditions of human existence.
• Non-traditional security focuses on human and global security.
• Human security is about the protection of people more than the protection of states. All proponents of human security agree that its primary goal is the protection of individuals.
• Proponents of the ‘narrow concept’ of human security focus on violent threats to individuals while proponents of the ‘broad concept’ of human security argue that the threat agenda should include hunger, disease and natural disaster.
• The idea of global security emerged in the 1990s in response to the global nature of threats such as global warming, international terrorism, and health epidemics like AIDS and bird flu and so on.
New Sources of Threats
• Terrorism refers to political violence that targets civilians deliberately and indiscriminately. International terrorism involves the citizens or territory of more than one country.
• The classic cases of terrorism involve hijacking planes or planting bombs in trains, cafes, markets and other crowded places.
• Human rights have come to be classified into three types:
→ The first type is political rights such as freedom of speech and assembly.
→ The second type is economic and social rights.
→ The third type is the rights of colonised people or ethnic and indigenous minorities.
• Global poverty is another source of insecurity. High per capita income and low population growth make rich states or rich social groups get richer, whereas low incomes and high population growth reinforce each other to make poor states and poor groups get poorer.
• Health epidemics such as HIV-AIDS, bird flu, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have rapidly spread across countries through migration, business, tourism and military operations.
Cooperative Security
• Dealing with many of non-traditional threats to security require cooperation rather than military confrontation.
• Cooperation may be bilateral, regional, continental, or global which would all depend on the nature of the threat and the willingness and ability of countries to respond.
India's Security Strategy
• India has faced both traditional and non-traditional threats to its security. Its security strategy depends upon four broad components:
• The first component was strengthening its military capabilities because India has been involved in conflicts with its neighbours - Pakistan in 1947–48, 1965, 1971 and 1999; and China in 1962.
• The second component of India’s security strategy has been to strengthen international norms and international institutions to protect its security interests.
• The third component of Indian security strategy is geared towards meeting security challenges within the country.
• Fourth, there has been an attempt in India 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 which has not quite succeeded.
1. Security mainly refers to protection from
a) Culture
b) Threats
c) Trade
d) Technology
Answer: b) Threats
2. Traditional security mainly focuses on
a) Poverty
b) Environment
c) Military threats
d) Human rights
Answer: c) Military threats
3. Which of the following is a non-traditional security threat?
a) Border dispute
b) War
c) Terrorism
d) Army invasion
Answer: c) Terrorism
4. Human security mainly focuses on
a) State borders
b) Military power
c) Individual well-being
d) Nuclear weapons
Answer: c) Individual well-being
5. Which weapon is considered the most dangerous for global security?
a) Chemical weapons
b) Biological weapons
c) Nuclear weapons
d) Conventional weapons
Answer: c) Nuclear weapons
6. Arms control means
a) Increasing weapons
b) Banning education
c) Regulating weapons
d) Promoting wars
Answer: c) Regulating weapons
7. Which organization plays an important role in maintaining international peace?
a) WHO
b) IMF
c) United Nations
d) World Bank
Answer: c) United Nations
8. Environmental degradation threatens security because it
a) Improves economy
b) Causes conflict and displacement
c) Increases trade
d) Strengthens armies
Answer: b) Causes conflict and displacement
9. Collective security means
a) One country protecting itself
b) Countries acting together for peace
c) Military rule
d) Isolation of nations
Answer: b) Countries acting together for peace
10. Which of the following is NOT a traditional security threat?
a) War
b) Terrorism
c) Military attack
d) Border conflict
Answer: b) Terrorism
1. What is meant by Security?
Answer:
Security means protection from threats. It refers to safeguarding individuals, communities, and states from internal and external dangers such as war, violence, poverty, and natural disasters.
2. Explain the concept of Traditional Security.
Answer:
Traditional security focuses on military threats and protection of a country’s borders. It mainly deals with wars, armed conflicts, and the use of military power to protect national sovereignty.
3. What is Non-Traditional Security?
Answer:
Non-traditional security includes threats other than military threats. These include terrorism, climate change, pandemics, cyber threats, poverty, and environmental degradation.
4. What is Human Security?
Answer:
Human security focuses on the safety and well-being of individuals rather than states. It includes protection from hunger, disease, unemployment, crime, and human rights violations.
5. Why are nuclear weapons considered a threat to global security?
Answer:
Nuclear weapons are highly destructive and can cause massive loss of life and long-term environmental damage. Their use can threaten the survival of humanity and global peace.
6. What is Arms Control?
Answer:
Arms control refers to international agreements to regulate, limit, or reduce the production, stockpiling, and use of weapons, especially nuclear weapons, to reduce the chances of war.
7. What is Disarmament?
Answer:
Disarmament means reducing or eliminating weapons, particularly weapons of mass destruction, to promote peace and prevent conflicts.
8. Mention any two Non-Military threats to security.
Answer:
Terrorism
Environmental degradation
9. What is Collective Security?
Answer:
Collective security is a system where states cooperate to respond jointly to threats against peace. An attack on one country is considered an attack on all.
10. How does terrorism threaten security?
Answer:
Terrorism creates fear, instability, and loss of life. It weakens governments, disrupts social harmony, and threatens national and international security.
11. What role does the United Nations play in maintaining security?
Answer:
The United Nations works to maintain international peace through peacekeeping missions, conflict resolution, disarmament efforts, and promoting cooperation among nations.
12. Why is environmental security important today?
Answer:
Environmental security is important because climate change, pollution, and resource depletion can cause conflicts, displacement of people, and threaten human survival.
13. What is meant by Global Security?
Answer:
Global security refers to protection from threats that affect the entire world, such as nuclear war, terrorism, climate change, and pandemics.
14. Differentiate between Traditional and Non-Traditional Security.
Answer:
| Traditional Security | Non-Traditional Security |
|---|
| Focuses on military threats | Focuses on non-military threats |
| State-centered | Human-centered |
| Deals with wars | Deals with poverty, terrorism, climate change |
15. Write two measures to improve global security.
Answer:
International cooperation and dialogue
Reduction of nuclear and conventional weapons
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