The Complexity of Global Security Governance: An Analytical Overview

By suggesting predictable and controllable patterns of development, the literature on global governance seems to simplify the world for decision-making tractability. In this respect, security narratives often remain analytically frozen, while the dynamics of global life are not. Relying on complexity thinking, this article both comments on the construction and potential reconstruction of the concept of security as it relates to the question of global governance and engages with the cognitive multiplicity of the notion of global security governance. Such an exploration suggests the need for the complexification of the discourses and practices of security governance through the adaptive contingency of “security as resilience”, which rejects the detachment between human and natural systems and the ability of the former to control the latter. The argument is that the logic of “security as resilience” is more appropriate than the conventional logic of “security as control”. In policy terms, therefore, the complexity of global security governance intimates an ability to cope with vulnerabilities, defy adversity and construct a new proficiency in response to the uncertainty, cognitive challenges, complex unbounded risks and the need for continuing adaptation prompted by the alterations in global life.     

Security cooperation in and with Asia: towards a pragmatic turn in the EU’s security policy?

ABSTRACT

Since the adoption of the first EU-Asia Strategy in 1994, there has been persistent scepticism about the EU’s ability to play a significant role in Asian security. Yet, since the release of the 2012 Updated East Asia Policy Guidelines, the EU has declared its intent to make greater practical contributions to Asian security. Against these premises, this article attempts to reflect on the evolution of the EU’s security approach to Asia, with the ultimate goal of analysing to what degree, it represents a continuation or a departure from former EU policies in the region. In scrutinising these developments, this article argues that in light of the strategic changes, that have occurred in Europe and in Asia, the EU has started to revise its security approach to the region in more pragmatic terms. The pragmatic character of the EU is seen as looking into the changes of the content of the security discourse, which appears increasingly depoliticised and, into the new practices of cooperation, which unlike in the past, seek to empower local actors, are sensitive to local needs and, call for greater security collaboration between the EU and Asian countries, to cope with regional and global challenges.     

Human Security: The Making of a UN Ideology

Inspired by the conclusions of the United Nations Intellectual History Project, this article seeks to enrich the ongoing discussion on the role of ideas in UN activities. The focus here is on security, an issue often regarded as the organisation's raison d'être. The article argues that over the past two decades the ideology of human security has been the driving normative force behind the global policies advocated by the UN in the area of security. The first part analyses the UN's official discourse, and demonstrates the political importance that it ascribes to the concept of human security. The second section examines a set of global policies that illustrate how the world body has sought to put the principles of human security into practice. While recognising that these policies fall short of the ambitions articulated in UN rhetoric, the article suggests that they have opened a small but very real breach in the epistemic framework underlying the traditional conception of security.     

探索中美关系新范式及全球安全治理

特朗普执政以来,美国对华战略定位出现全方位负面趋向,由“接触”向“规锁”的转型不断加深。作为当今国际体系中的新兴大国与霸权国家,两国关系正在形成战略竞争日益突出的新态势。中美经贸摩擦的出现和深化表明,经贸合作作为两国关系的传统“压舱石”,在单独应对战略竞争“新态势”方面所能发挥的作用有限。为有效阻止“新态势”向全面对抗与冲突方向演变,中美亟须重新定位、处理和管控彼此关系的“新范式”。包括全球安全治理在内的全球治理架构为中美战略博弈与权势平衡提供了相对稳定的制度体系。通过明确战略竞争边界、构建对话协调平台,有效借助第三方力量等,中美的理性博弈、积极合作能够得到有效推动,并直接带来全球安全治理在观念、制度、模式等方面的变革。这不仅符合两国根本利益和国际社会的普遍愿望,也是全球治理健全发展的需要。但确立“新范式”有待解决的一大问题是,经贸合作作为两国关系“压舱石”的作用已经不稳,需要探索新的“压舱石”,全球安全治理合作在此方面的作用是不够的。未来中美关系的首要特点是战略竞争,新的“压舱石”可以通过权力博弈建立某种相对稳定的机制架构,最终以大国权势平衡的方式来打造。     

国家安全领导体制的变革与东北亚地区安全

以国家安全委员会为代表的国家安全领导体制是现代国家安全决策、协调和咨询的最核心机构。从理论上讲,国家安全领导体制关系到国家安全战略的每个环节,可以结合外交政策分析的不同视角,同时又具有比较政治研究的重大意义。从实践上来看,美国、英国、法国等世界上主要大国都已建立起较为完善的国家安全领导体系,而东北亚中、日、韩三国从2013年开始也相继进行了国家安全领导体制的变革,建立了国家安全委员会及其常设机构。尽管从人员构成、战略目标、运行模式等方面来看,三国变革后的国家安全领导体制还有差异,但是国家安全领导体制的变化对东北亚局势还是造成了深远影响。中日关系、朝鲜半岛问题、东北亚地区的安全架构都出现了新的变化;同时,各国国内安全问题,特别是非传统安全问题已成为新的国家安全领导体制的主要涉及领域。东北亚地区国家安全领导体制改革是全球范围内国家安全转化和重构的一部分,未来的国家安全领导体制建设要从理论上探讨如何规避其中的官僚政治特别是小集团思维因素,在理念上要与国家安全观紧密结合起来,在实践上要充分考虑其长期性、复杂性,并为体制变革提供强有力的法律保障。     

Not quite the ‘Great Britain of the Far East’: Japan's security,the US–Japan alliance and the ‘war on terror’ in East Asia

Japan, in responding to US expectations for support in the ‘war on terror’, has displayed a degree of strategic convergence on global security objectives, thus prompting policy-makers and observers to dub it the ‘Great Britain of the Far East’. This article argues, however, that Japan is far from assuming this role. For Japan, the ‘war on terror’ serves more as a political pretext for legitimating long-planned changes in military security policy that are often only marginally related to the US's anti-terrorism agenda. Instead, Japan has focused much more on using the terror threat rationale as a means to push forward its response to the regional and traditional security challenges of North Korea and China, even if at times it attempts to depict both as ‘new security challenges’ or as involving elements of counterterrorism. The final conclusion is that US military hegemony may be weakened by Japan's and the Asia-Pacific's potential divergence from the US global security agenda.     

European Security,Strategic Culture,and the Use of Force

This article examines post-cold war European attitudes to the use of force, focusing on the UK, France, Germany and Poland. It argues that European strategic culture reflects the security environment of the second half of the Twentieth century, and increasingly acts as an impediment to developing new European security strategies relevant to the early twenty-first century. The author argues that new thinking about security and strategy is required in Europe, and suggests six principles that should inform a revised European security strategy appropriate to the post-9/11 world.     

局部等级视角下的东亚安全秩序与中美战略竞争

东亚秩序转型是冷战后国际关系学界争论的重要问题。在回顾既有争论的基础上,本文尝试从局部等级视角切入,分析东亚安全秩序的性质及其转型动力。局部等级体系由体系唯一超级大国领导的地区安全等级与区域内自助国家共同构成。冷战结束以来,东亚地区呈现出典型的局部等级体系特征,并在中国持续崛起的过程中逐步形成了以战略对冲为主要行为模式的安全秩序。尽管当前美国对华政策的对抗性不断增强,但是在局部等级体系下中国坚持战略对冲不但可以有效缓解自身面临的崛起困境,而且有助于防止中美陷入美苏冷战式的集团对抗,以战略对冲为核心特征的东亚安全秩序也将因此得以延续。这些发现一定程度上深化了地区安全秩序和大国竞争的理论研究,同时也有助于中美两国更为有效地管控其在东亚地区的战略竞争。     

Security,subjectivity and space in postcolonial Europe: Muslims in the diaspora

Abstract

In this article, we call into question the assumptions that undergird conceptions of boundary, territory, community and ethno-cultural belonging in the constitution of European security. Both the term ‘human security’ as defined by development and human rights scholars and ‘securitisation’ as conceptualised by critical security studies concern the socio-psychological aspects of security. Yet, few attempts have been made to seriously discuss the psychological effects of securitisation on subjectivity and space. There is, as we will argue, a tendency in much literature to use concepts of ‘existential security’, ‘fear’, ‘needs’ and the ‘politics of belonging’ – obviously connected to the human mind and individual emotionality – without much space being devoted to the investigation of these concepts in terms of socio-psychological processes. We intend to fill this gap by discussing security and securitisation in terms of the psychology of subjectivity and space among young Muslims in Europe. Our principal argument is that through openness to the political psychology of subjectivity and space, and the (de)securitisation of both, we are able to develop more adequate maps of the European experience of danger and opportunity.     

Re-conceptualizing State Responsibility: Human Security Protection, Confl icts and Governance

Different from the perspective of traditional national security, human security is an essential component of non-traditional security. Human security is influenced by multi-dimensional factors. Human security will be threatened if one or more of these dimensional factors get twisted. Such threats, once accumulated to a certain level, may trigger a confl ict. While some factors may have a low correlation with confl ict, some other factors may have a multiplying effect in triggering the confl ict. Further, confl ict may be triggered by a single factor or multiple factors. Poor governance may lead to escalation of confl icts. Deep understanding of triggering effects and their correlation with confl icts is essential to addressing the root causes and the management of conflicts effectively. Concepts of human security, state responsibility of protection and neo-interventionism have been developed in succession. Though the people-centered security framework draws global attention, it should be recognized that there is no international consensus on an optimal type of governance. However, according to the Charter of the United Nations, the primary responsibilities of human security protection should be rested on the government of a state. The principle of sovereignty remains the fundamental principle of international relations, which should be the guiding principle for addressing human security issues.     

重塑国家之责：人的安全保护、冲突与治理

与传统的“国家安全”观相比，“人的安全”观是非传统安全领域中的重要内容。人的安全受多维度影响。其中一个或几个维度出现问题，人的安全就受到威胁；威胁达到一定程度，就可能导致冲突。这些维度构成冲突诱因。冲突诱因呈现多元化。有的诱因与冲突相关度较低，有的诱因对诱发冲突具有乘数效应。就触发状态而言，冲突可能由单一因素诱发，亦可由多种因素叠加引发。如果治理失当，会导致冲突恶化。一个国家要有效地治理冲突，就应当对导致冲突的诱因及相关度有深刻理解，如此方可对症下药。人的安全概念、国家保护责任与新干预主义是相继形成的三个概念。应当说，尽管以人为中心的安全框架日益被全球关注，但应当采取何种治理形式，何种治理形式属于最优方案，在国际社会中并未达成共识。但是，根据《联合国宪章》的精神，保护人的安全的责任首先在于当事国政府。主权原则仍是国际关系的基本原则，是解决人的安全问题必须遵守的根本准则。     

American Perspectives on the Transatlantic Security Agenda

This article explores US perspectives on the new transatlantic security agenda in the context of the evolution of strategic culture. The war on terrorism and the Iraq War of 2003 serve as focal points to examine sources of divergence and convergence between US and European security policies. The article explores key questions including: Have we seen the collapse of a shared, transatlantic security culture since September 11? How have US leaders manipulated strategic cultures to achieve security objectives in the new era? Why has the Bush administration willingly engaged (and even encouraged) the intra-European divide? How significant to the United States is the shift in “old” and “new” European perspectives on the war on terrorism? The article concludes with an assessment of the implications of recent events for the future of transatlantic security ties.     

Neorealism,Security Cooperation,and Europe's Relative Gains Dilemma

Most neorealists argue that relative decline constitutes a systemic incentive for European security cooperation. Although this claim is broadly accepted, I argue that the relationship between relative decline and European security cooperation is complicated by a number of factors. First, European calculations about relative decline bear both a global and a regional (that is, intra-European) component. If a European country is to effectively mitigate relative decline, cooperation is not sufficient. It is just as important that cooperation develops in a way that underscores that country's comparative strengths and minimizes its weaknesses. In this regard, European countries are often in direct competition with each other. Secondly, when Europeans are thinking about their relative power position, some countries matter more than others: a given European country may accept to incur a relative loss vis-à-vis another country (European or otherwise) but not others. These calculations are further complicated by issue linkage. Some countries may accept relative losses on some issues (for example, security) in exchange for gains on others (economic). This article examines how intra-European considerations of relative gains affect the way in which Europe's main powers seek to cope with relative decline and assesses how those considerations affect security cooperation in a European Union (EU) framework. In doing so, it aims to unpack the otherwise vague notions of relative decline and European security cooperation.     

亚太地区安全架构:目标、条件与构想

中国领导人指出,"亚太地区经济合作架构众多,建立一个符合地区实际、满足各方需要的区域安全架构势在必行。"中国应当抓住目前的战略机遇,本着"主动谋划、积极进取"的精神,在亚太地区安全问题上扮演"概念设置国""议程设置国"的角色,在适当时机提出建立亚太区域安全架构的倡议。中国倡导并参与亚太安全架构的建设,有助于达到以下目标:整合并超越现有的地区安全机制;进一步发挥中国在整个亚太地区事务中的引领作用,同时推进"打造周边命运共同体"和"构建中关新型大国关系"两大目标;缓解中国在本地区的安全压力,冲淡美国的亚太安全同盟体系并最终使其转型;保障和促进"一带一路"建设;加强中国在亚太安全事务中的规则制订权;引导国内外舆论和公众正确理解新时期的国家安全观和国际合作观。中国以外的任何一个国家在近期内都不大可能主动提出关于亚太安全架构的倡议,而中国正式提出这一倡议的时机亦不成熟,拟首先明确自己的战略目标,厘清战略思路。     

Pursuing Security in Cyberspace: Strategic and Organizational Challenges

This article argues that the United States government should be acting rapidly to decrease the risks the country is running in cyberspace. While the private sector has a critical part to play in enhancing the country's cybersecurity posture, the government also has a necessary role. It is on the government's role that this article focuses. The article begins by discussing the characteristics of cyberspace. Next, the challenge of cybersecurity is explored through a risk management model that addresses, in turn, threats, vulnerabilities, and potential consequences. Finally, the article lays out some of the characteristics of an effective government response, which help to illuminate a few of the strategic and organizational challenges that will have to be overcome to improve the country's security in the cyber realm.     

Human Security and Constructivism

This article explores the concept of "human security" as an academic and fledgling policy movement that seeks to place the individual—or people collectively—as the referent of security. It does this against a background of evolving transnational norms relating to security and governance, and the development of scientific understanding that challenges orthodox conceptions of security. It suggests that human security is not a coherent or objective school of thought. Rather, there are different, and sometimes competing, conceptions of human security that may reflect different sociological/cultural and geostrategic orientations. The article argues that the emergence of the concept of human security—as a broad, multifaceted, and evolving conception of security—rreflects the impact of values and norms on international relations. It also embraces a range of alliances, actors, and agendas that have taken us beyond the traditional scope of international politics and diplomacy. As a demonstration of change in international relations, of evolving identities and interests, this is best explained with reference to "social constructivist" thought, in contradistinction with the structural realist mainstream of international relations. In a constructivist vein, the article suggests that empirical research is already building a case in support of human security thinking that is, slowly, being acknowledged by decision-makers, against the logic of realist determinism.     

东北亚地缘政治变迁与中国崛起的安全环境

从地缘政治角度研究国家安全环境问题是作为国际政治行为体的民族国家永恒的主题,也是国际关系研究的重点问题。中国崛起的国际环境是否有利,首先取决于中国周边的地缘政治经济和地缘安全环境。地缘政治格局的演变与国家安全利益紧密相关,东北亚地区的中国崛起是不可遏止的必然过程,同时也是极为艰难复杂的过程,大国崛起必然也面临着“崛起困境”。哪些地缘政治关系和安全环境构成了“崛起的困境”,就成为东北亚安全环境中中国崛起的战略问题。     

探析中俄地区安全务实合作

中俄在许多安全领域具有共同利益，两国之间的安全合作也有较为坚实的政治、经济和历史基础。在新的安全环境下，中俄双方需共同努力，在以下方面推进务实安全合作，保证战略稳定和地区稳定：共同推动上合组织有效履行维护地区安全责任；在战略互信的基础上深入开展军事合作；加强维护地区安全方面的合作；深化在非传统安全领域的合作。     

国家安全:范畴与内涵——一种现实主义的视角

冷战时期,当安全问题在国际关系中的"高级政治"地位还不可动摇的时候,罗伯特·基欧汉就已经在他于1977年出版的<权力与相互依赖>一书中,敏锐地捕捉到了经济的相互依赖给国家安全象征主义带来的挑战:"国家安全"概念的含糊性变得更加明显,因为各种各样往往是互不一致的卷入都以国家安全为借口①.     

Opportunities and Limits of EU-China Security Cooperation

In its European Security Strategy, the European Union defined the People's Republic of China (PRC) as a strategic partner and envisaged comprehensive cooperation with it, including in the security sector. China and the EU often use the same terms, but the connotation of these terms differs due to fundamentally different security concerns. This article critically assesses the possibilities, prospects and difficulties from a European point of view of pursuing Sino-European cooperation in security matters. It concludes that given basic differences in perception, cooperation is likely to be successful in such fields as environmental disasters and pandemics, but will remain limited in such areas as non-proliferation, the fight against terrorism and energy security.