Human Security and Securitisation Flashcards
Define securitization
An articulation o fan issue whether t be real or potential as an existential threat to a referent object, thus requiring an emergency response. This is conducted through the process of a speech act and must ten be accepted or denied by the target audience for the process of securitisation to be complete. Often the issue at hand has already become politicised.
Strengths of securitization
Understanding the process allows for individuals to better evaluate whether an issue should truly be a security issue as well as allowing them to identify the inherent biases of the securitising actor
Weakness of Securitisation
It is State and Eurocentric. It isn’t predictive it is only an understanding theory
“War on Terror”
Is an example of securitisation. The emergency response resulted in the US base defense budget increasing from $287 billion in 2001 to $530 Billion by 2013
IR Theories and securitisation
Realism: It is strongly linked to the realist notion of the state as the referent object
Liberalism: It acknowledges the role of the individual which is strongly linked to liberalism
Constructivism: Focus on Discourse
What is the first step in the process of Securitisation?
1) Non-Politicised issue:
- The state does not deal with the issue
- The issue is not included in public debate
What is the second step in the process of securitization?
2) Politicised:
- The issue is managed within the standard political system
- It is part of public policy, requiring government decision and resources allocation or more rarely some form of communal governance
What is the third step in the process of securitisation?
3) Securitisation:
- The issue is framed as a security question through an act of securitisation
- A securitising actor articulates an already politicised issue as an existential threat to a referent object
Give 3 reasons as to why an issue might be securitised.
- To direct funding and attention to a particular problem
- To increase and consolidate regime and government power
- To legitimise the role of the military in a civilian problem so as to give them power over other government agencies
What are the central principles of Human Security?
- The individual is the referent object
- Humans should have freedom from want as well as freedom from fear
- As well as freedom from violence and the threat of violence
What report introduced the term Human Security?
The 1994 UNDP report on Human Development
What has driven the concept of Human Security?
The idea that states have responsibilities, not just rights along with the humanitarians crises like the Rwandan Genocide
What did the UN declare to be a security threat in 2014?
Ebola
Is the securitization of health a new thing?
No. It has been happening since before the Westphalian system existed but only in the sense of how it could affect the military.
What has brought health security to the forefront?
The UN secretary Generals high-level panel on Threats Challenges and Changes
What can fuel Malaria and Dengue fever?
Climate Change
What illustrates the change in the prominence of Health Security?
During Clinton’s Presidency, the national strategy only included Health in brief. During Obama’s presidency, a significant portion was devoted to a wide range of health topics.
Give 3 potential effects of a health issue to security
- Mass migration
- Effects on the stability and confidence in the state
- High mortality which could pose challenges for the operation of the state
When did the UNSC adopt resolutions on HIV and AIDS?
In 2000 and 2011
What did the UNSC urge in resolution 1308?
This resolution regards HIV and AIDs. They urged voluntary testing and counselling for peacekeepers and attempted to generate more global action by looking at the potential socio-economic effects, undermined social cohesion, exacerbated inequality and induced human rights abuses it could create. They stressed the necessity of research and the need for a development of a vaccine and stated the UNGA was to take a lead role.
What action did France take in regard to HIV/Aids?
They called a conference and proposed a conference with the relevant parties to keep the cost of necessary medication down in order to allow developing countries access to it.
What number was the UNSC resolution of Ebola?
Resolution 2177
What was the aim of UNSC resolution 2177?
To attempt to get the international community to avoid isolating countries with ebola cases. As well as to ensure states accepted and helped the WHO lead the fight against ebola. This resolution became symbolic of the increasing securitisation of health.
Stefan Elbe’s argument in regards to the securitisation of aids.
It could push the response so far into the military category that it could risk dehumanising the response and result in harsh and unjust policies being adopted. It could also dehumanise those with aids which is not the best way to deal with in infectious disease.
What is questionable about the relationship between health and security?
That there is very little empirical evidence for the effects on a macro-level
What did the 2014 Pentagon report state in regard to Climate Change?
That it posed an “immediate risk to the United States national security.”
What is unique about climate change as a security issue?
It poses a threat to many different referent objects
The USDoD on Climate Change
They label it a “threat multiplier” and their papers focus on adaptation rather than mitigation.
What has fueled the securitization of climate change?
The end of the Cold War
What indicates a failure to address Climate change in the US?
The presence of adaptation only strategies rather than mitigation ones.
What weakens the human security approach to Climate Change?
The continued inclusion of the state as the key security actor
How does food security affect security?
When we don’t have access to food and water we are more likely to go to war to get it. For example, the 2008 food price crisis resulted in riots throughout the world
When was the World Food Crisis?
1970s
Enzo et al argument on the Columbian food Crisis
In the 1970s, the Colombian government successfully securitised the food issue in the context of a reduction of external food aid and failed land reform.
How did Columbia deal with the world food crisis in the 1970s?
They implemented the multi-sectorial approach
Define food security
Food security exists when all people, at al times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life
What are food problems in Columbia mainly related to?
access
How did the issue of food security change on an international level in the 1970s?
It moved from being a health issue to a development issue
Where did scholars gather in 1971 to discuss food issues? How did this effect the UN?
MIT. It affected the UN by filtering through to them.
What played a key role in ensuring food issues were heard on a global scale?
The Famines in Africa
What organisation did the Columbian Government create as a result of their securitisation of food supply?
The National Committee on Food and Nutrition Technology
What portion of all children under 5 in Columbia showed signs of undernutrition?
60%
President Lopez’s Statement regarding the securitisation of food in Columbia
“The nutritional situation of the Colombian population constitutes without any doubt, one of the most acute social problems of the country.”
What depressed local agriculture in Columbia?
Imports being cheaper and hence more attractive to buyers than local produce
How did Lopez frame the securitisation of food in Columbia?
As a nutritional problem affecting the capacity of the poor.
How much money did the World Bank and Canada pay Columbia for rural development?
$170 million
The PAN Food Program
Focused on food production and redistribution, education about nutrition (i.e. school gardens), health care and sanitation.
How was Food securitised in Columbia?
In the 1980s the new Turbay govt said that “Undoubtedly the country has registered much progression on the food area through the past years.”
