Security in the Contemporary World

2.1 Core concepts

• Basic meaning of security. Security implies freedom from threats; but only threats to core values that are so severe the values would be damaged beyond repair count as security threats — otherwise the concept loses coherence and the world would be "saturated with security issues" (NCERT §What is Security?, pp. 64–65). NCERT warns that if every threat to existence — a person being robbed in the street, or any minor disagreement between countries — were treated as a security threat, we would be paralysed: "everywhere we looked, the world would be full of dangers".
• Whose core values? NCERT raises a deliberate ambiguity: are the core values to be protected those of the country as a whole, or those of ordinary women and men in the street? Governments may not always share the citizen's notion of what is core (NCERT p. 64). This question opens the door to the later distinction between state security and human security.
• Two broad conceptions. Notions of security are grouped into traditional and non-traditional; they vary with context and across societies of the world's nearly 200 countries (NCERT p. 65). It would be "amazing" if six hundred and fifty crore people, organised in nearly 200 countries, had the same conception of security — context matters.
• Traditional — External. In the traditional view, the gravest threat is military action from another country that endangers sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity (NCERT §Traditional Notions: External, p. 65). Military action does not only target soldiers — "ordinary men and women are made targets of war, either to break their support for the war" or as collateral.
• Three basic choices before a government facing war: (i) surrender, (ii) deterrence — prevent attack by raising costs to an unacceptable level, (iii) defence — limit or end war once it begins (NCERT p. 65). Governments may quietly choose to surrender but will not advertise this as policy; therefore declared security policy revolves around deterrence and defence.
• Balance of Power. A third component of traditional security — governments stay sensitive to relative power of neighbours/rivals and build military, economic and technological power to maintain a favourable balance, especially with neighbours, rivals, or those with whom they have had past conflicts (NCERT pp. 65–66). Economic and technological power matter because they are the basis of military power.
• Alliance building. A coalition of states that coordinate actions to deter or defend against military attack; usually formalised in treaties; based on national interests and can change when those interests change. Example: the US backed Islamic militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s but attacked them after the 9/11 strikes by Al Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden (NCERT p. 66).
• No central authority in world politics. Unlike inside a country, there is no acknowledged central authority above states. The international system is "a rather brutal arena". The UN exists only to the extent its members allow — "the UN is a creature of its members and has authority only to the extent that the membership allows it to have authority and obeys it" — hence each country is responsible for its own security (NCERT p. 66).
• Traditional — Internal. After WWII the US, USSR and powerful Western European countries felt internally secure and focused on external threats; some European powers continued to worry about violence in their colonies (French in Vietnam in the 1950s, British in Kenya in the 1950s/early 1960s). The colonial/post-colonial states of Asia and Africa however faced both external threats from neighbours and internal threats from separatist movements (NCERT pp. 67–68). They feared their neighbours even more than they feared the superpowers or the former colonial rulers.
• Civil wars surge. Between 1946 and 1991 there was a twelve-fold rise in civil wars — the greatest jump in 200 years; internal wars now make up more than 95 per cent of all armed conflicts globally (NCERT p. 68). Sometimes external and internal threats merge — a neighbour may instigate an internal separatist movement, generating tensions across borders.
• Cold War & Third World. The Cold War between the two superpowers was responsible for approximately one-third of all wars in the post-WWII period; most of these were fought in the Third World (NCERT p. 67).
• Cooperation under traditional security. Limits on the ends (just-war: self-defence, preventing genocide) and means (sparing non-combatants, the unarmed and the surrendering, avoiding excessive violence) of war. Force, must in any case be used only after all the alternatives have failed (NCERT p. 68).
• Disarmament. All states give up certain weapons. The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) banned production/possession of those weapons. More than 155 states acceded to the BWC; 193 states to the CWC; both conventions included all the great powers. The superpowers, however, did not want to give up the third type of weapons of mass destruction — nuclear weapons — so they pursued arms control instead (NCERT p. 69).
• Arms control. Regulates acquisition/development. Key treaties: ABM Treaty 1972 (blocked the US and USSR from using ballistic missiles as a defensive shield to launch a nuclear attack — it allowed both to deploy a very limited number of defensive systems but stopped large-scale production), SALT II, START, and the NPT 1968 — which let countries that had tested/manufactured nukes before 1967 keep them, while denying the right to others. The NPT did not abolish nuclear weapons; it limited the number of countries that could have them (NCERT p. 69).
• Confidence building. Process by which rivals share ideas, military intentions and (to a point) plans, to ensure they do not go to war through misunderstanding or misperception; they also share information about what kind of forces they possess and may share where those forces are deployed (NCERT p. 70).
• Non-Traditional notions — the referent shifts. From the state to individuals/communities/all of humankind; hence the labels human security and global security. Protecting citizens from foreign attack may be a necessary condition for the security of individuals, but it is certainly not a sufficient one — during the last 100 years, more people have been killed by their own governments than by foreign armies (NCERT p. 70).
• Narrow vs broad human security. Narrow view (e.g. Kofi Annan) = "the protection of communities and individuals from internal violence." Broad view = also hunger, disease and natural disasters, because these kill far more people than war, genocide and terrorism combined. The broadest formulation captures freedom from want and freedom from fear — what has also been called "economic security" and "threats to human dignity" (NCERT pp. 70–71).
• Global security. Emerged in the 1990s in response to global-scale threats — global warming, international terrorism, AIDS and bird flu — that require international cooperation because no country can resolve them alone, and in some situations one country may have to disproportionately bear the brunt (NCERT p. 71). Illustration: a 1.5–2.0 m sea-level rise would flood 20 per cent of Bangladesh, inundate most of the Maldives and threaten nearly half of Thailand's population.
• Terrorism. Political violence that targets civilians deliberately and indiscriminately; international terrorism involves citizens or territory of more than one country. Terrorist groups seek to change a political context or condition that they do not like by force or threat of force; civilian targets are chosen to terrorise the public and use the public's unhappiness as a weapon (NCERT p. 71). Classic cases include hijacking planes and planting bombs in trains, cafes, markets and crowded places. Most pre-9/11 attacks were in the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and South Asia; attention spiked after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre.
• Human rights — three types: (i) political rights such as freedom of speech and assembly; (ii) economic and social rights; (iii) rights of colonised peoples or ethnic and indigenous minorities. While there is broad agreement on this classification, there is no agreement on which set should be considered universal, nor on what the international community should do when rights are violated. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the Rwandan genocide (1994) and the Indonesian military's killing of people in East Timor sharpened the debate over whether the UN should intervene (NCERT pp. 72–73).
• Global poverty. World population — then about 760 crore — projected to reach nearly 1000 crore by the middle of the 21st century; half the population growth occurs in six countries — India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia. Poor countries' populations may triple in 50 years while rich-country populations shrink, deepening the North–South gap. Within the South, disparities have sharpened — a few countries have slowed population growth and raised incomes while others have failed (NCERT p. 73).
• Migrants vs refugees. Migrants leave voluntarily; refugees flee war, natural disaster or political persecution. States are supposed to accept refugees but not migrants. Internally displaced people stay within national borders — example: Kashmiri Pandits who fled the Kashmir Valley in the early 1990s (NCERT p. 74). The world refugee map tallies almost perfectly with the world conflicts map: from 1990 to 1995, 70 states were involved in 93 wars which killed about 55 lakh people; in the 1990s all but three of the 60 refugee flows coincided with an internal armed conflict.
• Health epidemics. HIV-AIDS, bird flu and SARS spread rapidly via migration, business, tourism and military operations. By 2003 an estimated 4 crore people were infected with HIV-AIDS — two-thirds in Africa, half the rest in South Asia. New drug therapies dramatically lowered the death rate in industrialised countries in the late 1990s but were too expensive for poor regions. New diseases (Corona, Ebola, hantavirus, hepatitis C) have emerged; old diseases (tuberculosis, malaria, dengue, cholera) have mutated into drug-resistant forms. Britain lost billions during the mad-cow disease outbreak; bird flu shut down poultry exports from several Asian countries (NCERT pp. 74–75).
• Limits of the concept. To qualify as a security problem an issue must threaten the very existence of the referent — else "everything could become a security issue" and the concept loses coherence. Illustration: the Maldives feels threatened by global warming because much of its territory may be submerged; in Southern Africa one in six adults has HIV-AIDS (one in three in Botswana, the worst case); in 1994 the Tutsi tribe in Rwanda faced a threat to its existence as nearly five lakh of its people were killed by the rival Hutu tribe in weeks (NCERT p. 75).
• Cooperative security. Most non-traditional threats need cooperation, not military confrontation. Cooperation can be bilateral, regional, continental or global, and may involve international organisations (UN, WHO, World Bank, IMF), NGOs (Amnesty International, Red Cross), MNCs and great personalities (Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela). Force is a last resort — best when sanctioned and applied collectively by the international community rather than by an individual country acting on its own (NCERT p. 76).
• India's security strategy — four components (NCERT §India's Security Strategy, pp. 76–77): 1. Strengthening military capability — India fought Pakistan (1947–48, 1965, 1971, 1999) and China (1962); first nuclear device tested in 1974; nuclear tests in 1998 justified on national-security grounds because India is surrounded by nuclear-armed countries in the South Asian region. 2. Strengthening international norms and institutions — Nehru backed Asian solidarity, decolonisation, disarmament, and the UN as a forum where international conflicts could be settled; India sought a universal, non-discriminatory non-proliferation regime, argued for the New International Economic Order (NIEO), used non-alignment to carve an area of peace outside bloc politics, joined the 160 countries that signed and ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and has contributed troops to UN peacekeeping. 3. Meeting internal challenges democratically — militant movements in Nagaland, Mizoram, Punjab and Kashmir have sought secession; India responds via a democratic political system that lets groups voice grievances and share power. 4. Economic development — lifting citizens out of poverty and limiting inequality; democratic politics allows space for the voice of the poor, putting pressure on elected governments to combine growth with human development. Democracy itself is thus a way to provide greater security.

2.2 Definitions to memorise

2.3 Diagrams / processes to remember

• Three basic choices before a government facing war — surrender / deterrence / defence — plus the four traditional-security components (deterrence, defence, balance of power, alliances) (NCERT pp. 65–66). Remember that security policy openly admits only the last three; surrender is never declared policy.
• World Refugees in 2017 pie chart — Africa 30%, Middle East & North Africa 26%, Europe 17%, Americas 16%, Asia & Pacific 11% (NCERT p. 74).
• Life Expectancy / Infant Mortality poster — Sub-Saharan countries 40 years; Sweden 3/1000 infant deaths, Indian subcontinent 1/7, parts of Africa 1/5; 50% of all deaths in the developing world are children under 5 (vs 5% in the developed world) (NCERT p. 73).
• The cooperative-security ladder — bilateral → regional → continental → global; with state, IGO (UN, WHO, World Bank, IMF), NGO (Amnesty, Red Cross), MNC and individual actors (NCERT p. 76).
• India's four-component security strategy — military capability + international norms + internal democratic management + economic development (NCERT pp. 76–77).
• Sea-level rise illustration — 1.5–2.0 m rise would flood 20% of Bangladesh, most of the Maldives, half of Thailand's population (NCERT p. 71).

2.5 Key Articles / Treaties / Events

2.4 Common confusions / NTA trap points

• Deterrence vs Defence: Deterrence = prevent attack (raise costs); Defence = limit/end war after it has begun. NTA loves to swap these.
• Disarmament vs Arms Control: Disarmament = give up weapons (BWC, CWC); Arms Control = regulate acquisition/development (ABM, NPT, SALT, START). NPT is arms control, not disarmament — it does not abolish nuclear weapons; it only limits the number of countries that can have them.
• NPT cut-off year: Countries that tested/manufactured nukes before 1967 keep them; all others give up the right (not 1968 — that is the year of the treaty).
• Migrant vs Refugee vs IDP: Voluntary leave (migrant), flee across border (refugee), flee within border (internally displaced). Kashmiri Pandits = IDP, not refugee.
• Cold War's share of post-WWII wars: approximately one-third of all post-WWII wars (not half).
• Civil-war jump: twelve-fold rise in civil wars between 1946 and 1991; internal wars are >95% of all armed conflicts.
• BWC/CWC accession counts: >155 states for BWC, 193 for CWC. NTA often swaps these.
• India's first nuclear device: 1974 (not 1998 — that was the second series of tests, weapons-capacity).
• Narrow vs broad human security: Narrow = internal violence (Kofi Annan formulation). Broad = also hunger, disease, disasters; broadest = "freedom from want" + "freedom from fear".
• Global security year: emerged in the 1990s, not the 1970s (Cold War era).
• Rwanda example: the Tutsi tribe lost about 5 lakh people to the Hutu in 1994 — used to illustrate that non-traditional threats can target group existence.
• HIV in Africa: by 2003, two-thirds of the 4 crore infected were in Africa; one in three adults in Botswana — Botswana is the worst case, not the African average.