Global Security

GE TCW
[ The Contemporary World ]
Trench Warfare, WWI German occupation in Poland, WWII

Japanese Kamikaze Planes, WWII Suspected Viet Cong, Cold War

Rwandan Civil War, 1994 911 Attack, 2001

Syrian Civil War, 2011 Post-Haiyan, 2013

 Introduction
• Security has taken new forms:
– Safety of states
– Safety of communities and individuals found in states

• Before, security means

– Ability of states to protect themselves from external threats
(aggression, invasion, conquest occupation)
 Introduction
• Today, security means

– Freedom of groups and people from various forms of threats,

whether economic, political, or social in nature

– Encompasses issues like poverty, state failure,

overpopulation, and environmental degradation
 Learning Outcomes
• At the end of this lesson, learners are expected to:

1. discuss the evolution of the concept of security;

2. elaborate the perspectives concerning factors affecting security;
3. distinguish between symmetric and asymmetric security threats;
and
4. evaluate the impact of globalization
 Concept of Security
• Disagreement on focus, means, and sources

• Interstate security, intrastate security, human security

• Traditionally, focus was on interstate security  high

frequency of interstate conflicts
 Case Study 1.
The Philippines Campaign during World War II
Days after his October 1944 amphibious
landing, Gen. Douglas MacArthur re-
established the Philippine Commonwealth in
Tacloban, Leyte with Sergio Osmeña as
President. The left photo shows the
monument of MacArthur (left), who was
standing beside Osmeña (right), delivering a
speech. The Philippines was liberated from
the Japanese Imperial Forces on August 15,
1945, after the dropping of atomic bombs in
mainland Japan. The right photo shows the
peace symbol, called the Madonna of Japan,
between the Japanese and Filipinos. The
monument was given by Japan 33 years
after the end of World War II.
 Concept of Security
• During Cold War, a wave of decolonization and state-
building had taken place

• The state became captive to the interests of dominant

clans, warlords, and/or ethnic groups
 Concept of Security
• The sources of insecurity were internal to the state

• Promoting security means addressing state weakness and

failure, political and ethnic grievances, and demands for
minority rights and freedoms, among others
 Concept of Security
• Certain new threats prove difficult for states to address on
their own

– Global warming
– Refugees
– Internally displaced persons (IDPs)
– Epidemics, etc.

• Even if the state remains as central provider of security,

state-centered security is not sufficient to protect
individuals from emerging threats and harms
 Realist and Liberal Perspectives
• Two principal causes why it is hard to achieve military
security:

– Anarchy → self-help → security dilemma → arms race

– Rationality of state actors

 Realist and Liberal Perspectives
• Distribution of power affects security

– Multipolarity → unstable; prone to chain-ganging, buck-

passing
– Bipolarity → relatively stable; strategic calculations are
easier
– Unipolarity → stable when the uncontested hegemon helps
provide order
 Realist and Liberal Perspectives
• Nuclear revolution in the Cold War period – considered to
have contributed to relative stability in the Cold War

– Mutually assured destruction – principle that nuclear weapons

deter enemy states because of the destruction they could cause

– Perceptions about their catastrophic impact when used matter in

stabilizing relations between states
 Realist and Liberal Perspectives
• Fat Man • Nagasaki

• Little Boy • Hiroshima

 Realist and Liberal Perspectives
• Nuclear weapons stockpiles
Realist and Liberal Perspectives
1960: The biggest nuclear
bomb ever built: “Tzar-bomba”,
“Big Ivan”, “Kooz’ka’s Mother”
(from old Russian proverb,
much liked by Khrushchev:
“We’ll show you Kooz’ka’s
mother!”
Realist and Liberal Perspectives

October 1961: The world’s biggest H-bomb tested at

Novaya Zemlya Island, the Arctic, explosive power –
57 mt
Realist and Liberal Perspectives

October 1961: The world’s biggest H-bomb tested at

Novaya Zemlya Island, the Arctic, explosive power –
57 mt
 Case Study 2.
Conventional Land, Air, and Sea Combat Technologies
The conventional security
paradigm focuses on security of
states from threats posed
primarily by other states. The
images show conventional
military technologies to support
land, air, and sea military
operations of states.
 Realist and Liberal Perspectives
• There are equally important factors that shape security

• The role of:

– Interdependence
– Democracy
– International institutions
 Symmetric and Asymmetric Security
• A full understanding of the concept of security requires one
to not only examine the threats posed by other states but
also non-state forces

• “In an era of rapid globalization, security must encompass a

broad range of concerns and challenges than simply
defending the state from external military attack” (Acharya,
2008)
 Symmetric and Asymmetric Security
• Asymmetric security threats

– The exact identity, location, and actual capabilities of their sources

are largely unknown

– Examples: terrorism, illicit trade, and even climate change

 Case Study 3.
The Devastations of Yolanda
Non-conventional security threats such as
environmental devastation, climate change,
displacement, and disaster relief are now
considered part of national security issues.
Due to evident risks to natural disasters, the
Philippines has strengthened its disaster risk
reduction and management system in recent
years. The first image above shows students
discussing the damage caused by typhoon
Yolanda on the province of Leyte. The second
image shows the ship which ran aground after
it was pushed by a 7-meter high storm surge
caused by the same typhoon. This shipwreck is
now a memorial of the thousands of lives that
perished on that day.
 Human Security and Globalization
• The concept of human security shows an expansion of the
traditional notion of security

– Human security has multiple facets: freedom from terrorism, food

security, freedom from environmental threats

– The concept was often mentioned before 1994, but it was the
UNDP’s Human Development Report that made human security a
common currency in the contemporary world
 Human Security and Globalization
• Human security

– Means that people can exercise choices safely and freely - and
that they can be relatively confident that the opportunities they
have today are not totally lost tomorrow

– Characteristics: (1) its focus on the individual/people as the object

or subject of security; (2) its multidimensional nature, not just
economic but also political, social, and environmental; and (3) its
universal or global scope, applying to states and societies of the
North as well as the South.
 Human Security and Globalization
• Scope of Human security, according to Acharya (2008):

– Economic security – an assured basic income for individuals,

usually from productive and remunerative work, or, in the last
resort, from some publicly financed safety net.
– Food security – ensuring that all people at all times have both
physical and economic access to basic food.
– Health security – guaranteeing a minimum protection from
diseases and unhealthy lifestyles.
 Human Security and Globalization
• Scope of Human security, according to Acharya (2008):

– Environmental security – protecting people from the short- and

long-term ravages of nature, man-made threats in nature, and
deterioration of the natural environment.
– Personal security – protecting people from physical violence,
whether from the state or external states, from violent individuals
and sub-state factors, from domestic abuse, and from predatory
adults.
 Human Security and Globalization
• Scope of Human security, according to Acharya (2008):

– Community security – protecting people from the loss of

traditional relationships and values, and from sectarian and ethnic
violence.
– Political security – ensuring that people live in a society that
honors their basic human rights and ensuring the freedom of
individuals and groups from government attempts to exercise
control over ideas and information.
 Human Security and Globalization
• The core idea of human security is essentially that the security of the
person, intrastate security, and interstate security are fundamentally
interconnected

• If any person in the world is unsafe, then nobody else can be safe
either

• Inspite of the debate about the utility and scope of human security,
there is increasing acceptance that that the traditional notion of
security, focusing on state sovereignty, would no longer suffice and
that the international community must develop new responses to
ensure the protection of people from transnational dangers in an era
of globalization.