Drones and the uninsurable security subjects

This paper engages with the security dynamics underlying the use of drones and their impact on security subjects – individuals and groups that are the ultimate recipients of specific security policies, regardless of whether these have beneficial effects on them. Using Mark Duffield’s distinction between the insured Global North and the non-insured Global South, this paper discusses how drones generate a radical dissociation between the intervener and the intervened that ultimately produces new security environments at the margins of the international system. These new security environments are defined by the articulation between space, technologies and bodies: bodies of invisible subjects; bodies that are uninsurable.     

Gas Supply and EU–Russia Relations

Drawing on New Institutional Economics (NIE) theory, the article argues that EU energy policy towards Russia damages security of supply because it neglects the specific aims and propensities of Russia and Gazprom. EU Commission initiatives are based on the promotion of interdependence through market opening, favouring a policy of competition over security of supply. The reason for this focus is found in the EU's embedded inclination towards liberal markets. Russia, by contrast, has chosen suboptimal state control of natural resources over the frontier capitalism of the 1990s. Sustainability of the current rent based system and geopolitical considerations are essential to Russia and Gazprom. In this situation a pragmatic approach that aims at security of supply and security of demand seems to be more successful. In this approach, liberalisation of the market can only be a long-term goal.     

Governing Terror: The State of Emergency of Biopolitical Emergence

This paper argues that western security practices are as biopolitical as they are geopolitical. Explaining that biopolitical security practices revolve around "life" as species existence, the paper explores how biopoliticized security practices secure by instantiating a general economy of the contingent throughout all the processes of reproductive circulation that impinge upon species existence. For this reason, "Governing Terror" does not merely reference the massive global security effort that is now devoted to governing terror. It observes how western security practices are themselves now also governed by a widespread fear of terror. It locates that fear in the way that western biopolitics has long adopted "the contingent" as its principle of formation. Here, "the real" is understood and experienced differently, as a general economy of emergence: "life" understood as constant nonlinear adaptation and change. The paper concludes that the state of emergency, which governs western politics of security at the beginning of the twenty-first century is not that of Carl Schmitt or Giorgio Agamben. The state of emergency which governs western security politics is the emergency of emergent life itself.     

What can security do for food? Lessons from Brazil

What are the analytical benefits of using the security vocabulary when addressing issues of human well-being? And to what extent can a security framing of these issues be useful in the normative and political sense – that is, when making judgements about existing policies and when formulating and implementing alternative ones? This article uses the case of food security to engage with these questions. It argues for a shift away from conceptual fine-tuning of what food security should mean and towards an appreciation of how security functions as a political modality. Whilst acknowledging that this modality can work to encourage international conflict, enable governmental control and empower global capitalism, the idea that security has an inherent logic which denies progressive politics is refuted. Drawing on the idea of emancipation in critical security studies, and applying it to empirical examples from contemporary Brazil, it is shown how food security can help expedite action to address harm and vulnerability, reinforce the public sphere and widen the scope of social concern.     

National security and domestic policy-making: the similarities and the critical differences

This analysis focuses on the discussion of whether (and how) national security and domestic policy-making processes are similar and/or different. Though many similarities are evident, it is the contention of this article that there are critical differences between national security and domestic policy-making that fundamentally affect the output from each of them. In addition, it is essential that public administrators develop a fuller understanding of national security policy-making processes since these processes do have theoretical, practical, and organizational impacts on institutional effectiveness, democratic processes, and governmental productivity. Let's remember that in the immediate post-Vietnam period many of us in the public management sectors--federal, state, and local-- dreamed of vast amounts of money being mainstreamed into the domestic coffers. Today that expectation is called the “peace dividend”. Little did we understand how much policy-making sophistication was embedded in the DOD. Therefore, as we move into the 1990s, this analysis reminds public administrators of their responsibilities to understand the national security arena in order to detect both the unique features as well as the broader generalizations attending this microcosm of public policy-making. All of us in public administration must make certain that this fertile laboratory of public policy is researched and investigated so as to ensure that the proper policy trade-offs are made in the 1990s.     

Global governance,development and human security: exploring the links

This article draws attention to the convergence of the global development and security agendas at the beginning of the new millennium. It explores the links between global governance, development and human security. It argues that material sufficiency lies at the core of human security. Hence, the problems of poverty and deepening inequality are central concerns, and the unfolding of these problems in the 1980s and 1990s is highlighted. During the closing decades of the 20th century, a neoliberal vision dominated the global development policy agenda, while these problems of inequality deepened. The policy was developed, championed and implemented by a range of global governance institutions, working through state governments. The idea and the institutions of global governance are examined critically, with a view to establishing in whose interest global governance and its associated development policies may be operating, and whether this is in support of human security.     

Has the human security agenda come of age? Definitions,discourses and debates

The concept of human security (HS) and its accompanying agenda, 20 years after the publication of the Human Development Report (1994), are still in a state of flux. This article summarises the extent to which, based on an in-depth analysis of the original HS dimensions in the articles in this Special Issue, the HS agenda has evolved, to the extent that it has become a clearly articulated concept both in academic terms and as a guide to concrete political action for policy-makers. It is argued in this article, perhaps not surprisingly given the nature of the concept and its dimensions, that there is a great degree of variation over space, place and time in the way that it is constructed, received and appropriated. Importantly, it is suggested that personal, political and community security have all struggled to develop a shared understanding that has become a firm guide to action, whereas food security, health security, environmental security and economic security have not only become firm parts of debate and discussion, but also significant policy areas that have had considerable time, effort and money devoted to resolving. Overall, the debate on HS is still also very much in flux 20 years on, but there can be no doubt that it has had a major impact academically and in terms of political action.     

Spectacular Security: Mega-Events and the Security Complex

In Discipline and Punish Foucault famously declares that "our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance." Our theoretical aim in this paper is to problematize Foucault's strict demarcation between spectacle and surveillance through an analysis of urban mega-events. In the process, we detail emerging features of contemporary mega-events that shape and are shaped by shifts in the field of security and surveillance more broadly. Three dynamics in particular warrant consideration: the move toward a precautionary logic among security planners, a "semiotic shift" wherein security iconography is integrally bound up with the production of contemporary urban spectacles, and various forms of security and surveillance legacies that circulate beyond the spatial and temporal frame of the event itself. While mega-events support Foucault's assertion of the dispersal of discipline across the social field, they also suggest that this dispersal occurs in concert with, not in spite of, the power of the spectacle in contemporary society.     

军事对抗与两岸军事安全互信机制未来前景

本文在阐述军事对抗与军事安全互信机制辩证关系的基础上，提出一种有益于建立军事安全互信机制、创造台海永久和平的新型军事安全战略。这种新型军事安全战略的基本特征是：把维护两岸关系和平发展作为根本目标，既关注如何赢得战争，也关注如何通过战争赢得和平，还关注如何防止已经建立起来的和平转化为新的战争。以此为标准检视台海各方军事安全战略可以看到：中国大陆军事安全战略实现了战略与政略的高度结合，为军事服从政治、服务两岸关系和平发展提供了无限可能；台湾、美国坚持“只经不政”、“和而不解”，使其“和平愿望”难以贯彻到军事安全战略层面，是阻碍两岸军事安全互信机制建立的根本原因。     

The United States–India Nuclear Relations after 9/11: Alternative Discourses

Abstract

In this article, I go beyond the conventional realist arguments of anarchy, national interest, and nuclear security to offer alternative discourses of the same as applied in the context of US–India nuclear relations after 9/11. To this extent, I draw from feminist International Relations, that security is a gendered phenomenon, to explore how the post-9/11 climate of globalization has served as the context within which are articulated masculinist forms of nuclear discourses between India and the United States. Furthermore, considering issues of international hierarchy and power relations between India and United States, I also draw from Edward Said's Orientalism to explore how assumptions of Orientalism are also sustained in these masculinist nuclear discourses. My contribution in this article lies in offering an alternative feminist and post-colonial perspective to comprehend that nuclear security discourses are not only about objective realist/neoliberal issues of insecurity and strategic interdependence but also contain subjective implications that sustain masculinist and orientalist forms of identity-making in international politics.     

Economic interest or security concerns? Which affected how individuals in five Asian countries—Indonesia,Japan, Malaysia,the Philippines,and South Korea—viewed China in 2013?

With rapid economic growth, China has become its neighbours’ largest trade partner in the twenty-first century. At the same time, the growth of China’s military and its assertiveness are raising concerns among its neighbours that China’s rise will pose a threat to them. In this context, will China’s neighbours—Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Korea—view China positively or negatively? By using statistical analysis, this paper aims to explore whether individuals are more affected by their economic position or national security concerns when they view China. The findings in this article suggest that individuals’ security concerns have stronger associations with their attitudes toward China than economic conditions. Specifically, individuals’ views on China’s military growth and territorial disputes had negative effects on their attitudes toward China. On the other hand, economic interests had weaker associations with individuals’ views of China than security concerns.     

Public–Private Partnership in Tunisia: Enfidha Airport Assessment of an Infrastructure Achievement

One of the largest recent private-sector investments and the first airport private-sector concession in the Maghreb is Enfidha Airport, a key factor in the success of the Tunisian Government’s public–private partnership (PPP) strategy. However, since Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, political and social turmoil is sweeping the country and worsening the economic indicators. This article aims to assess this PPP infrastructure, allowing us to determine if it is profitable in the long term and contributes therefore to the economic growth. The case study reveals the key role of the economic, social, and political environment in Tunisia, the dawn of the Arab Spring.     

Politics in the hot zone: Aids and national security in Africa

Traditional security studies and international relations theory do little to address the security issues associated with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Because security studies and international relations have been preoccupied with conditions affecting the major powers, little of the long history of international relations and national security has practical application to Africa and the HIV/AIDS epidemic it is experiencing. From a theoretical perspective many fields of security studies and international relations do not adequately address critical dimensions in dealing with security. Dimensions of time, scope and depth are often overlooked. This point is important regarding the AIDS epidemic because time and extent often determine the security threat and whether it is a short-run threat (which is subject to greater political expediency) or a long-run threat (which is subject to less political expediency). In the short run the epidemic threatens the security of political institutions, the military and military operations. In the long run the security of populations and national economic performance are at risk.     

美国国家安全战略的思想根源

战略观念与战略思维是影响国家战略行为的深层因素。美国在成长为超级大国的历史进程中,逐步形成了自身独特的战略安全观念与战略思维方式。综合考察战后以来尤其是冷战期间美国国家安全战略的缔造与实施过程,可以看出,美国战略安全观念与战略思维方式有几个近乎一以贯之的显著特点:立足"最坏假设",强调实力地位,保持技术优势,偏重军事手段,追求绝对安全,维持全球霸权,秉持道德普遍主义和意识形态优越论。其中,物质与精神并重,权力尤其武力手段与道德、意识形态旗帜并举,是最具美国特色的战略思想。这些思想特征构成美国安全战略的深层脉络,在战略实践中起起落落但从未销声匿迹。这些思想观念所塑造的全球战略既成就了美国的超强地位,也造成了美国霸权的困境,是理解当前和未来美国国家安全战略的重要历史与思想线索。     

Everyday Engagement in Spectacular Situations: popular participation in Colombian security provision

In the past three decades, citizen participation has been heralded as the hallmark of democracy and economic transparency. Yet citizen participation has not been limited to political and economic processes. In this paper I consider the incorporation of participatory measures in an arena frequently overlooked: security provision. I trace the origins, evolution and effects of efforts to increase citizen participation in security provision in Colombia. Despite notorious images of paramilitary forces, guerrilla insurgents and vigilante groups, citizen participation in security provision tends to be banal, boring and not particularly effective, as average people attend local meetings, work through state bureaucracy, and comply with new policy initiatives. I argue that insecurity in Colombia is neither a product of apathetic citizens nor of violent, uncontrollable mobs, but rather part and parcel of an emerging form of governance in which citizens are made responsible for their own security provision.     

Who Supports Nuclear Armament in Japan? Threat Perceptions and Japan's Nuclear Armament

The security environment in East Asia has been going through drastic changes. As China and North Korea pose a serious threat to Japan, the Japanese are now more concerned about the security issue in the region. Recognizing the highly volatile situation Japan is facing, the purpose of this study is to examine the issue of nuclear proliferation by focusing on people's attitudes in Japan. More specifically, it systematically analyzes the factors that can determine people's opinions of nuclear weapons by utilizing the survey data. The result of the statistical analysis suggests that threat perceptions significantly boost people's support for nuclear armament. Advancing our understanding of nuclear proliferation from a unique perspective, this study makes an important contribution to the literature, thus helping us predict Japan's security policy.     

The Dynamics of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the Domestic Security Dilemma

This article argues that the concept of the “domestic security dilemma” can help us to better understand public opposition to government counterterrorism policies. It examines the concept of the “security dilemma” in international relations theory and argues that this concept can also be applied to the analysis of domestic security politics. The article explains that when the government takes actions intended to make people safer from terrorist threats, it often has the unintended consequence of heightening concerns about government oppression. Thus, counterterrorism represents a “domestic security dilemma”—a situation where security tradeoffs have consistently undermined anticipated security gains.     

Community security: human security at 21

The concept of human security has come a long way since its introduction in the UNDP Human Development Report in 1994. There are now a number of global and regional initiatives aimed at promoting human security issues. However, the achievements over the last two decades may be less impressive when one starts to explicate the progress of each of the key elements subsumed under the broad concept of human security. This paper will examine the extent to which community security, as one of the elements of human security, has been advanced through the security discourses and practices in the international arena. Using ASEAN as a case study, the paper argues that the massive gaps in human development, security and democracy hinder progress in promoting community security. The paper further argues that in developing states, community security is still very much the domain of the state.     

Central Asia and regional security

This paper aims to analyze the politico-military cooperation among the Central Asian countries viewed as a key factor in ensuring the regional security. Today, the geopolitical tension in the surrounding regions, the worsening situation in Afghanistan, as well as intraregional socio-economic problems directly affect the security situation in Central Asia. In this regard, the question arises as to how well the Central Asian states are able to meet these challenges. The analysis of the situation in the region in the 1990s and at the beginning of the new century shows that attempts have been made to establish a regional security system based on military cooperation among Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. However, unregulated interstate relations in Central Asia, the lack of political will to cooperate with leaders of neighboring countries and the combination of external and internal threats have contributed to the creation of a regional security system based on the multilateral structures with the involvement of external actors.     

The role of ASEAN institutes of strategic and international studies in developing security cooperation in the Asia‐pacific region

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) governments are facing new challenges, the need to re‐evaluate the significance of the track‐two activities has been recognised. As there has been insufficient research on the ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), this article analyses their role in the development of security cooperation. It shows that ASEAN‐ISIS has contributed to the establishment of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) by analysing the common/cooperative security thinking, the establishment of an inter‐governmental forum for a security dialogue, and the extension of ASEAN's diplomatic style over a larger geographical area. As ASEAN‐ISIS has contributed to inter‐governmental cooperation by promoting ideas, this article concludes that the significance of their activities in contemporary Asian politics should be understood in terms of the introduction and promotion of such innovative ideas.