The concept of security

Abstract

Redefining 'security' has recently become something of a cottage industry. 1 Most such efforts, however, are more concerned with redefining the policy agendas of nation-states than with the concept of security itself. Often, this takes the form of proposals for giving high priority to such issues as human rights, economics, the environment, drug traffic, epidemics, crime, or social injustice, in addition to the traditional concern with security from external military threats. Such proposals are usually buttressed with a mixture of normative arguments about which values of which people or groups of people should be protected, and empirical arguments as to the nature and magnitude of threats to those values. Relatively little attention is devoted to conceptual issues as such. This article seeks to disentangle the concept of security from these normative and empirical concerns, however legitimate they may be. Cloaking normative and empirical debate in conceptual rhetoric exaggerates the conceptual differences between proponents of various security policies and impedes scholarly communication. Are proponents of economic or environmental security using a concept of security that is fundamentally different from that used by Realists? Or are they simply emphasizing different aspects of a shared concept? Do those who object to 'privileging' the nation-state rather than, say, the individual or humanity share any conceptual views with students of 'national security'? This article attempts to identify common conceptual distinctions underlying various conceptions of security. Identifying the common elements in various conceptions of security is useful in at least three ways: First, it facilitates asking the most basic question of social science,

Појмовно Одређење Безбједности

“…Дејвид Болдвин (David Baldwin) истиче да је појам безбједности у својој суштини споран и сложен концепт (Baldwin, 1997). На вишедимензионалност и сложеност појма безбједности упозорио је, средином прошлога вијека, Арнолд Вулферс (Arnold Wolfers), одредивши га као "неодређени симбол" (ambiguous simbol), који може али не мора имати неко значење (Wolfers, 1952).…”

Impact of Eco-Efficient Energy on Sustainable Development in South Asia: Empirical Estimations

“…Since the concept of energy security is more complex, multidimensional, and contextual, most of the previous studies have tried to define the concept of energy security (Bohi & Toman, 1996) (Baldwin, 1997). Recent studies have tried to estimate and forecast the energy security (Kamonphorn & Hironobu,clean and green energy have compelled all countries, by the International Agreements and Treaties on energy, environmental protection and sustainable growth (Premakumara, 2012).…”

Analysis impact of the structural competition preconditions for ensuring economic security of the machine building complex

“…justification of its components and their assessment have been discussed in scientific papers of foreign as well as national authors such as: B. Grekham [7], D. Baldwin [1], H.B. Kleiner [18], K. Neu [19], D. D. Burkaltseva [4], A.…”