This paper locates human security ideas vis-à-vis the concept of sustainability in the context of... more This paper locates human security ideas vis-à-vis the concept of sustainability in the context of the new international cooperation challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The main aim is to show how a robust understanding of human security is necessary for rethinking sustainability beyond a narrow focus on environmental problems. The paper provides first a historical review of the overlaps and complementarities between the two concepts as described through the series of Human Development Reports. The review shows how both ideas were initially downplayed and constrained to narrow understandings for over a decade. Sustainability eventually proved broadly appealing to the scientific community and the Global South, as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) show. Still, it failed to include any serious concern for shocks, downside risks and crisis management. The human security approach emphasizes protection and resilience, offering a better frame to cover the whole crisis management cycle of response, recovery, prevention and preparedness. It promotes the consolidation of responsive and capable systems to cope with risks and vulnerabilities, both objective and subjective, by the whole of society. It also advocates protecting human dignity in crises and upholding global agreement on the importance of human life and dignity beyond borders, a notion menaced by increasing protectionism and nationalism worldwide. After the general discussion, we review specific shocks or downside risks compromising prospects for future generations, namely infectious diseases, disasters, climate change, conflict, displacement and technological change. The last section calls for promoting the engagement of the scientific community and actors in the Global South around human security ideas to move forward their operationalization.
This paper offers a critical perspective on the future of humanitarianism, drawing on the exper... more This paper offers a critical perspective on the future of humanitarianism, drawing on the experience of four Latin American emerging countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
Their experience in the region and beyond provides a mix of characteristics that result in a unique understanding of crisis and response. Latin America is rather well-off and—except for Haiti—is mostly outside the scope of major humanitarian emergencies. However, Latin America is still affected by high inequality, organized crime, and all types of disasters, while hosting a major population displacement in Colombia as a result of civil conflict. Thus, emerging countries of the region remain on the global humanitarian watch list.
The paper explores this duality, based on over one hundred semi-structured interviews in the selected countries, complemented with direct observations and primary data analysis. Among significant findings, the paper describes a historical resistance from the region to be seen as the locus of humanitarian crisis, reflected both through capacity building and diplomacy. At least four older and more recent principles of action are identified, namely ‘non-indifference’, ‘reciprocity’, ‘sustainability’, and ‘horizontality’. In particular, horizontality underscores a rich diversity of South-South exchanges between line ministries and other offices in charge of specific crises that goes beyond being ‘donors’. Indeed, emerging countries explicitly challenge the traditional humanitarian establishment, so their contributions are better understood as reflecting ongoing transformations in their human development and security agendas.
The notion that "relief alone is not enough" is common to all actors involved in humanitarian cri... more The notion that "relief alone is not enough" is common to all actors involved in humanitarian crises and their management. This notion was officially framed at the United Nations (UN) in 1991 as a "continuum from relief to rehabilitation and development" and today remains a challenging task in the agenda of international assistance. Despite periodic efforts to understand the problem and to put forward solutions, reviews report a lack of conceptual clarity and little progress. We suggest that one of the reasons is the paucity of efforts to clarify the meaning of the continuum in a way that leads to an understanding that covers crisis-specific settings as well as humanitarian crises in general. Thus, the present paper aims to contribute to advancing this conceptual front by comparing general approaches to the continuum of humanitarian crisis management with those that can be found through the work on two emblematic types of crises: disaster risk reduction and peacebuilding. We show that parallel understandings of the continuum as a matter of actors and as a matter of phases coexist and are in need of disambiguation; there is difficulty internalizing the non-linearity of the process and a lack of clarity on the position of prevention within humanitarian crisis management. We put forward a multi-layered activities model as the most basic understanding of the continuum to which all actors can converge, and describe its strengths and weaknesses. Local ownership is the most important limiting factor, and the alternative to realizing the continuum of pursuing approaches internal to or among foreign actors is not a substitute.
During the last 20 years, the idea of human security has been spreading globally and locally, alb... more During the last 20 years, the idea of human security has been spreading globally and locally, albeit unevenly. One factor in this growth has been the role of Human Development Reports as sources of alternative narratives to understand social problems and progress. This paper describes how National and Regional Human Development Reports have generated a rich and analytically fruitful set of approaches to examining and responding to contextual threats, following human security principles – for people-centred, comprehensive, context-specific and prevention-oriented analysis and exploring basic security questions. However, this richness has not fed back yet into the global apex of Human Development Reports and related work, reflecting a disconnection between levels of analysis that hinders the transformation of development and security narratives.
El presente artículo analiza el papel periférico de Latinoamérica en las discusiones mundiales so... more El presente artículo analiza el papel periférico de Latinoamérica en las discusiones mundiales sobre el concepto/enfoque de seguridad humana. La hipótesis de trabajo es que las propuestas para abrir la teoría y práctica de seguridad en la región a la visión humana no han logrado acoplarse a la evolución en las concepciones e instituciones de seguridad durante los últimos veinte años; por tanto, no existe una interface constructiva de comunicación entre lo ciudadano y lo humano que informe el quehacer en seguridad en el mediano y largo plazo. El estudio describe dos hilos conductores: (a) el lento desarrollo de versiones elaboradas del concepto de seguridad humana que resulten útiles a las sociedades de la región, en parte producto de (b) el posicionamiento de la seguridad ciudadana como el paradigma alternativo de seguridad en América Latina. Después de hacer una revisión de estos hilos en lo conceptual e institucional, el artículo cierra con algunas propuestas para establecer un puente más dinámico y efectivo entre las dos visiones.
Recognizing the influence crises have in shaping global governance nowadays, the present work exp... more Recognizing the influence crises have in shaping global governance nowadays, the present work explores the possible contribution of human development thinking countering the perverse effects of shock-driven responses to major emergencies. This is done by focusing on contributions by Sen, Dreze, Haq and Stewart related to famines, violent conflict and the idea of human security, analyzed using a selection of four criteria, namely, describing the position of crisis inside human development thinking, issues of modeling and measurement, the stance toward agency, and the actors gathered around the discourse. After strengths and weaknesses are considered, the article suggests a tangential involvement through other human concepts, so human development ideas do not get muddled by the logic of shocks and fulfill the great responsibility of helping us avoid the many shortfalls of a security-obsessed view of humanity.
The objective of this study is to document the reaction of international students to the 11 March... more The objective of this study is to document the reaction of international students to the 11 March 2011 emergency in order to inform and improve disaster management strategies, both public and institutional. The study is based mainly on a questionnaire survey carried out in August 2011 and follow-up interviews with students and other stakeholders. It describes the background of Tohoku University’s School of Engineering and covers six different stages in the evolution of the emergency: (1) immediate response; (2) taking shelter in Sendai; (3) life in the city during the aftermath; (4) sheltering outside Sendai; (5) coming back; plus (6) an overview of the experience. Major findings include: the process of evacuation and safety confirmation was successful, yet the subsequent phases (2 and 3) went on mostly unmanaged; students relied mostly on secondary sources of information to make decisions, mainly family and friends of the same nationality, most of whom probably were not better informed than the students themselves. Based on the findings, suggestions for future disaster planning are advanced, as well as a discussion on the challenges of information provision during crisis.
This paper documents a food panic in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, following the March 11, 2011, Gre... more This paper documents a food panic in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, following the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake. A food panic is defined as a situation in which the general population fears losing access to food supplies, including drinking water, for an unknown length of time and, as a consequence, exhibits at least one of the following abnormal behaviors: panic buying, hoarding, or panic flight, probably aggravated by indiscriminate price hikes. Primary and secondary data, including media reports, official documents, direct observation, semistructured interviews, and an original survey, describe the characteristics of the food panic and suggest the mechanisms behind its occurrence. The reactions of major actors are depicted, highlighting the importance of the private sector in dealing with food panics. Suggestions for preparedness against such panics and challenges in future studies are covered in the last section.
This paper explores the interface between pursuits of security and justice using for contrast som... more This paper explores the interface between pursuits of security and justice using for contrast some of the situations triggered by March 11 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. It starts by advancing a very rough description of the justice and security interface that is then used heuristically to analyze different approaches to the emergency. The analysis results in mainly three situations in which borders and overlaps are the more evident, namely: demanding information, assessing reaction and resetting standards. The presentation suggests the necessity to re-open a space for an understanding of security different from justice, based on the temporality of emergency and the unintended consequences of framing catastrophe in terms of justice.
This paper reviews interactions between affected coastal communities and security providers four ... more This paper reviews interactions between affected coastal communities and security providers four months after the Great East Japan Earthquake using human security as a tool for analysis. Six questions for human security analysis proposed by Gomez (2011) served for the inquiry: “What are the threats?”; “Security of which values?”; “Whose security?”; “What are the means to provide security?”; “Who is the provider of security?”; “How much security?” Applying such questions (especially the latter three) on 3 communities under different conditions of insecurity in the municipalities of Minamisanriku and Kesennuma enabled us to shed light on the means, providers and calculations (‘How much security’) which aided them most while facing the havoc wreaked by the series of disasters. Interviews with stakeholders at the sites served as valuable input to understand how the communities organized and protected themselves, as well as the means they used to voice their needs effectively to possible security providers. To guarantee the survival and minimum living standards of the victims until a sense of normalcy is regained, we conclude that a high level of communication among security providers is essential, giving way--as much as possible--to an environment where community empowerment takes place, though bearing in mind the effects such empowerment may cause in the community. Moreover, from the perspective of the disaster victims, i.e. people-centeredness within human security, delivery of the necessary security appears more important than the character of the security provider.
This paper reviews the history of the introduction of the concept of human security into security... more This paper reviews the history of the introduction of the concept of human security into security discourses in the Philippines. Gasper’s (2005, 2010) understanding of the concept as a “boundary object” and its roles inside and between discourses, are especially considered for the study. We start by briefly describing the way the concept emerged in the international community and how it was received in Southeast Asia, pointing out the weak connection between the external and the domestic development of the concept. The predominant association of security with armed conflict in the Philippines offered a more likely niche for actors’ engagement in the security discourse. Based on their differing general visions of the armed conflict and its resolution, at least three distinct discourses of security are identified: the peace movement, the national security framework, and the anti-terrorism legislation. The entry points for human security rhetoric are described for each discourse, and related developments are presented. Finally, we describe the boundaries between the intellectual communities represented by the three discourses, as well as how human security is—or could be—helping to mediate between those boundaries. We favor a framework in terms of dialogue rather than convergence, given the magnitude of the challenges implied. The article offers a guide for newcomers to the debate, contributing to fill the gap in the literature on domestic analysis about the concept’s operationalization.
The idea of human security continues to gain global recognition, offering an alternative framewor... more The idea of human security continues to gain global recognition, offering an alternative framework for the evolving challenges of the new century. While the human security literature has addressed the definition of the concept exhaustively, thorough analyses on efforts to operationalize it are scarce. The UN Trust Fund for Human Security is an appealing source of insights on the praxis of the idea because of the Fund's long-standing effort, which includes more than 190 implemented projects. The article is an examination of the Fund's experience operationalizing human security in three steps: principles, criteria, and actual project formulation. While asking what a human security project is, the article follows the process through which the results of the Commission on Human Security are translated into the Fund's guidelines, and how those guidelines are used to design activities. The revision highlights the strengths of a human security framework when addressing complex situations, allowing for multiple, innovative interventions under one umbrella of action. However, coordination problems and an evaluation of whether humans are more secure through the use of the concept remain operational concerns.
Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, 2018
The notion ‘relief alone is not enough,’ officially framed at the United Nations in 1991 as a ‘co... more The notion ‘relief alone is not enough,’ officially framed at the United Nations in 1991 as a ‘continuum from relief to rehabilitation and development,’ still remains a challenging task in the agenda of all actors involved in the management of humanitarian crises. The authors suggest that one of the reasons for this is the paucity of efforts to clarify the meaning of the continuum in a way that leads to an understanding of humanitarian crises in general and crisis-specific settings. This chapter compares general approaches to the continuum of humanitarian crisis management, mainly ‘Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development,’ ‘Relief to Development,’ ‘Seamless Assistance,’ ‘Early Recovery,’ and ‘Resilience.’ It describes parallel understandings of the continuum as a matter of actors and as a matter of phases, and also underscores the importance of funding. The chapter then advances a multi-layered activities model as the most basic, common understanding of the continuum; such model addresses two major challenges: internalizing the non-linearity of the process in the conception of crisis management, and build in prevention as part of it. Finally, a list of issues and limitations of the model is included, all of which are explored through the empirical work in the subsequent chapters.
Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, 2018
This chapter provides an introduction to the three cases on disasters, starting from the presenta... more This chapter provides an introduction to the three cases on disasters, starting from the presentation of disaster management as a cycle. The simplified depiction of prevention, response, and recovery as a cycle conveys the idea of the continuum as a sequential process of activities that is easy to teach and assimilate. Nevertheless, the linear cycle is far from an accurate representation of disaster management because it gives the incorrect impression that progress is not possible and ignores how phases overlap in practice. Addressing the continuum of crisis management thus implies a richer and more complex understanding of disaster management, something that has been evolving in the disaster risk reduction community. To understand this evolution, two experiences related to the continuum are described in the chapter: first, a humanitarian perspective as fleshed out by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); and second, a developmental perspective from global agreements that ensued after the International Decade for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) in the nineties. These experiences suggest how strategies, coordination and funding for the whole of the continuum have become gradually available. This chapter provides the background from which each of the subsequent case studies has been developed.
Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, 2018
Prevention phase in crisis management is usually framed as an activity undertaken before a disast... more Prevention phase in crisis management is usually framed as an activity undertaken before a disaster occurs; but more often it takes place after a catastrophe. This chapter illustrates how this happens following the experience after Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, identifying how prevention overlaps and connects with relief and recovery. The chapter starts examining the characteristics of the prevention phase as part of the continuum. It provides a historical account of relief and recovery phases conducted by national actors, the US, EU and Japan, focusing on ways they influenced and overlapped prevention-related activities. This shows how prevention took shape from the very beginning of the emergency and evolved in parallel to other phases. It then examines prevention-specific activities—specifically, the conformation of the disaster risk management (DRM) system and the conciliation of different strands of work relevant to DRM. Conflicting visions and inexperience with DRM, lack of in-country experience for international agencies, and time constraints and pressure mostly for political reasons, were significant challenges for the recovery and prevention phases. It is worth noting how small the share of prevention activities was in the initial plans for recovery, and how easily this became progressively displaced from the agenda afterward.
Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, 2018
This chapter begins with overviews of the key findings from armed conflicts and disaster case stu... more This chapter begins with overviews of the key findings from armed conflicts and disaster case studies. It follows with a comparative analysis of these types of crises, a synthesis of factors identified in the cases that enabled or hindered the realization of the continuum, and finally the overall implications for international cooperation. Despite deficient knowledge and understanding of the continuum, most actors involved in humanitarian crises management are striving to do more than relief within their organizational capacity. However, such efforts are mostly restricted to linking relief and recovery phases, followed by some form of development; thereby overlooking crisis prevention as a management phase engendered during relief and recovery. The analysis indicates three major factors that could facilitate or hinder the success of approaches to the continuum: country ownership of the process; policy expertise and capacities related to crisis management; and the existence of multiple actors that engage and complement each other's efforts. Finally, the chapter highlights three major suggestions for realizing the continuum: to recognize that crisis management is not linear, to put 'local' at the center, and to ensure that prevention starts from day one of a crisis
Human Security and Cross-Border Cooperation in East Asia, 2019
As the experiences of the Great East Japan Earthquake showed, conventional aid such as sending re... more As the experiences of the Great East Japan Earthquake showed, conventional aid such as sending relief goods and rescue teams may be less useful, and sometimes burdensome. Was the Japanese government’s decision to accommodate all types of offers of external assistance the best possible option from a human security viewpoint? Declining such conventional relief aid should not be denounced but understood. Non-conventional aid such as special skills to deal with the nuclear accident appeared more useful in this case, although these forms of aid require coordination and preparation in peacetime. Forging grass-roots solidarity is effective in the longer term.
This chapter describes the motivation of the research project, provides the theoretical framework... more This chapter describes the motivation of the research project, provides the theoretical framework of the entire book, and gives a summary of the findings of the case study chapters. In the process of diffusion of human security norms in East Asia, several features have emerged. First, East Asians have accepted a comprehensive definition of human security regarding the perception of threats. Second, East Asians tend to think that human security and state security are complementary. Third, the constituent elements of the human security norms such as freedom from fear and from want, freedom to live in dignity, protection, and empowerment are already accepted by East Asian nations. We need an extra effort to elevate human security to a full-fledged norm in the region.
This chapter provides a comparative analysis of the 11 case studies in the book. Overall, the mos... more This chapter provides a comparative analysis of the 11 case studies in the book. Overall, the most conspicuous finding is a peculiar interaction between the people and the state, in which generalized paternalism and expectations that the state will take care of the needs of the people are often embraced. While this could be viewed as a feature of Eastern political culture, as several authors suggest, the chapter proposes different explanations that can be extracted from the survey. From the perspective of the study of human security theory and practice, it is somewhat surprising to find scarce and conflicting elaborations of empowerment and its relationship with protection; that being said, overall it is comforting to find support for pragmatism over conceptual distinctions.
This paper locates human security ideas vis-à-vis the concept of sustainability in the context of... more This paper locates human security ideas vis-à-vis the concept of sustainability in the context of the new international cooperation challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The main aim is to show how a robust understanding of human security is necessary for rethinking sustainability beyond a narrow focus on environmental problems. The paper provides first a historical review of the overlaps and complementarities between the two concepts as described through the series of Human Development Reports. The review shows how both ideas were initially downplayed and constrained to narrow understandings for over a decade. Sustainability eventually proved broadly appealing to the scientific community and the Global South, as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) show. Still, it failed to include any serious concern for shocks, downside risks and crisis management. The human security approach emphasizes protection and resilience, offering a better frame to cover the whole crisis management cycle of response, recovery, prevention and preparedness. It promotes the consolidation of responsive and capable systems to cope with risks and vulnerabilities, both objective and subjective, by the whole of society. It also advocates protecting human dignity in crises and upholding global agreement on the importance of human life and dignity beyond borders, a notion menaced by increasing protectionism and nationalism worldwide. After the general discussion, we review specific shocks or downside risks compromising prospects for future generations, namely infectious diseases, disasters, climate change, conflict, displacement and technological change. The last section calls for promoting the engagement of the scientific community and actors in the Global South around human security ideas to move forward their operationalization.
This paper offers a critical perspective on the future of humanitarianism, drawing on the exper... more This paper offers a critical perspective on the future of humanitarianism, drawing on the experience of four Latin American emerging countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
Their experience in the region and beyond provides a mix of characteristics that result in a unique understanding of crisis and response. Latin America is rather well-off and—except for Haiti—is mostly outside the scope of major humanitarian emergencies. However, Latin America is still affected by high inequality, organized crime, and all types of disasters, while hosting a major population displacement in Colombia as a result of civil conflict. Thus, emerging countries of the region remain on the global humanitarian watch list.
The paper explores this duality, based on over one hundred semi-structured interviews in the selected countries, complemented with direct observations and primary data analysis. Among significant findings, the paper describes a historical resistance from the region to be seen as the locus of humanitarian crisis, reflected both through capacity building and diplomacy. At least four older and more recent principles of action are identified, namely ‘non-indifference’, ‘reciprocity’, ‘sustainability’, and ‘horizontality’. In particular, horizontality underscores a rich diversity of South-South exchanges between line ministries and other offices in charge of specific crises that goes beyond being ‘donors’. Indeed, emerging countries explicitly challenge the traditional humanitarian establishment, so their contributions are better understood as reflecting ongoing transformations in their human development and security agendas.
The notion that "relief alone is not enough" is common to all actors involved in humanitarian cri... more The notion that "relief alone is not enough" is common to all actors involved in humanitarian crises and their management. This notion was officially framed at the United Nations (UN) in 1991 as a "continuum from relief to rehabilitation and development" and today remains a challenging task in the agenda of international assistance. Despite periodic efforts to understand the problem and to put forward solutions, reviews report a lack of conceptual clarity and little progress. We suggest that one of the reasons is the paucity of efforts to clarify the meaning of the continuum in a way that leads to an understanding that covers crisis-specific settings as well as humanitarian crises in general. Thus, the present paper aims to contribute to advancing this conceptual front by comparing general approaches to the continuum of humanitarian crisis management with those that can be found through the work on two emblematic types of crises: disaster risk reduction and peacebuilding. We show that parallel understandings of the continuum as a matter of actors and as a matter of phases coexist and are in need of disambiguation; there is difficulty internalizing the non-linearity of the process and a lack of clarity on the position of prevention within humanitarian crisis management. We put forward a multi-layered activities model as the most basic understanding of the continuum to which all actors can converge, and describe its strengths and weaknesses. Local ownership is the most important limiting factor, and the alternative to realizing the continuum of pursuing approaches internal to or among foreign actors is not a substitute.
During the last 20 years, the idea of human security has been spreading globally and locally, alb... more During the last 20 years, the idea of human security has been spreading globally and locally, albeit unevenly. One factor in this growth has been the role of Human Development Reports as sources of alternative narratives to understand social problems and progress. This paper describes how National and Regional Human Development Reports have generated a rich and analytically fruitful set of approaches to examining and responding to contextual threats, following human security principles – for people-centred, comprehensive, context-specific and prevention-oriented analysis and exploring basic security questions. However, this richness has not fed back yet into the global apex of Human Development Reports and related work, reflecting a disconnection between levels of analysis that hinders the transformation of development and security narratives.
El presente artículo analiza el papel periférico de Latinoamérica en las discusiones mundiales so... more El presente artículo analiza el papel periférico de Latinoamérica en las discusiones mundiales sobre el concepto/enfoque de seguridad humana. La hipótesis de trabajo es que las propuestas para abrir la teoría y práctica de seguridad en la región a la visión humana no han logrado acoplarse a la evolución en las concepciones e instituciones de seguridad durante los últimos veinte años; por tanto, no existe una interface constructiva de comunicación entre lo ciudadano y lo humano que informe el quehacer en seguridad en el mediano y largo plazo. El estudio describe dos hilos conductores: (a) el lento desarrollo de versiones elaboradas del concepto de seguridad humana que resulten útiles a las sociedades de la región, en parte producto de (b) el posicionamiento de la seguridad ciudadana como el paradigma alternativo de seguridad en América Latina. Después de hacer una revisión de estos hilos en lo conceptual e institucional, el artículo cierra con algunas propuestas para establecer un puente más dinámico y efectivo entre las dos visiones.
Recognizing the influence crises have in shaping global governance nowadays, the present work exp... more Recognizing the influence crises have in shaping global governance nowadays, the present work explores the possible contribution of human development thinking countering the perverse effects of shock-driven responses to major emergencies. This is done by focusing on contributions by Sen, Dreze, Haq and Stewart related to famines, violent conflict and the idea of human security, analyzed using a selection of four criteria, namely, describing the position of crisis inside human development thinking, issues of modeling and measurement, the stance toward agency, and the actors gathered around the discourse. After strengths and weaknesses are considered, the article suggests a tangential involvement through other human concepts, so human development ideas do not get muddled by the logic of shocks and fulfill the great responsibility of helping us avoid the many shortfalls of a security-obsessed view of humanity.
The objective of this study is to document the reaction of international students to the 11 March... more The objective of this study is to document the reaction of international students to the 11 March 2011 emergency in order to inform and improve disaster management strategies, both public and institutional. The study is based mainly on a questionnaire survey carried out in August 2011 and follow-up interviews with students and other stakeholders. It describes the background of Tohoku University’s School of Engineering and covers six different stages in the evolution of the emergency: (1) immediate response; (2) taking shelter in Sendai; (3) life in the city during the aftermath; (4) sheltering outside Sendai; (5) coming back; plus (6) an overview of the experience. Major findings include: the process of evacuation and safety confirmation was successful, yet the subsequent phases (2 and 3) went on mostly unmanaged; students relied mostly on secondary sources of information to make decisions, mainly family and friends of the same nationality, most of whom probably were not better informed than the students themselves. Based on the findings, suggestions for future disaster planning are advanced, as well as a discussion on the challenges of information provision during crisis.
This paper documents a food panic in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, following the March 11, 2011, Gre... more This paper documents a food panic in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, following the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake. A food panic is defined as a situation in which the general population fears losing access to food supplies, including drinking water, for an unknown length of time and, as a consequence, exhibits at least one of the following abnormal behaviors: panic buying, hoarding, or panic flight, probably aggravated by indiscriminate price hikes. Primary and secondary data, including media reports, official documents, direct observation, semistructured interviews, and an original survey, describe the characteristics of the food panic and suggest the mechanisms behind its occurrence. The reactions of major actors are depicted, highlighting the importance of the private sector in dealing with food panics. Suggestions for preparedness against such panics and challenges in future studies are covered in the last section.
This paper explores the interface between pursuits of security and justice using for contrast som... more This paper explores the interface between pursuits of security and justice using for contrast some of the situations triggered by March 11 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. It starts by advancing a very rough description of the justice and security interface that is then used heuristically to analyze different approaches to the emergency. The analysis results in mainly three situations in which borders and overlaps are the more evident, namely: demanding information, assessing reaction and resetting standards. The presentation suggests the necessity to re-open a space for an understanding of security different from justice, based on the temporality of emergency and the unintended consequences of framing catastrophe in terms of justice.
This paper reviews interactions between affected coastal communities and security providers four ... more This paper reviews interactions between affected coastal communities and security providers four months after the Great East Japan Earthquake using human security as a tool for analysis. Six questions for human security analysis proposed by Gomez (2011) served for the inquiry: “What are the threats?”; “Security of which values?”; “Whose security?”; “What are the means to provide security?”; “Who is the provider of security?”; “How much security?” Applying such questions (especially the latter three) on 3 communities under different conditions of insecurity in the municipalities of Minamisanriku and Kesennuma enabled us to shed light on the means, providers and calculations (‘How much security’) which aided them most while facing the havoc wreaked by the series of disasters. Interviews with stakeholders at the sites served as valuable input to understand how the communities organized and protected themselves, as well as the means they used to voice their needs effectively to possible security providers. To guarantee the survival and minimum living standards of the victims until a sense of normalcy is regained, we conclude that a high level of communication among security providers is essential, giving way--as much as possible--to an environment where community empowerment takes place, though bearing in mind the effects such empowerment may cause in the community. Moreover, from the perspective of the disaster victims, i.e. people-centeredness within human security, delivery of the necessary security appears more important than the character of the security provider.
This paper reviews the history of the introduction of the concept of human security into security... more This paper reviews the history of the introduction of the concept of human security into security discourses in the Philippines. Gasper’s (2005, 2010) understanding of the concept as a “boundary object” and its roles inside and between discourses, are especially considered for the study. We start by briefly describing the way the concept emerged in the international community and how it was received in Southeast Asia, pointing out the weak connection between the external and the domestic development of the concept. The predominant association of security with armed conflict in the Philippines offered a more likely niche for actors’ engagement in the security discourse. Based on their differing general visions of the armed conflict and its resolution, at least three distinct discourses of security are identified: the peace movement, the national security framework, and the anti-terrorism legislation. The entry points for human security rhetoric are described for each discourse, and related developments are presented. Finally, we describe the boundaries between the intellectual communities represented by the three discourses, as well as how human security is—or could be—helping to mediate between those boundaries. We favor a framework in terms of dialogue rather than convergence, given the magnitude of the challenges implied. The article offers a guide for newcomers to the debate, contributing to fill the gap in the literature on domestic analysis about the concept’s operationalization.
The idea of human security continues to gain global recognition, offering an alternative framewor... more The idea of human security continues to gain global recognition, offering an alternative framework for the evolving challenges of the new century. While the human security literature has addressed the definition of the concept exhaustively, thorough analyses on efforts to operationalize it are scarce. The UN Trust Fund for Human Security is an appealing source of insights on the praxis of the idea because of the Fund's long-standing effort, which includes more than 190 implemented projects. The article is an examination of the Fund's experience operationalizing human security in three steps: principles, criteria, and actual project formulation. While asking what a human security project is, the article follows the process through which the results of the Commission on Human Security are translated into the Fund's guidelines, and how those guidelines are used to design activities. The revision highlights the strengths of a human security framework when addressing complex situations, allowing for multiple, innovative interventions under one umbrella of action. However, coordination problems and an evaluation of whether humans are more secure through the use of the concept remain operational concerns.
Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, 2018
The notion ‘relief alone is not enough,’ officially framed at the United Nations in 1991 as a ‘co... more The notion ‘relief alone is not enough,’ officially framed at the United Nations in 1991 as a ‘continuum from relief to rehabilitation and development,’ still remains a challenging task in the agenda of all actors involved in the management of humanitarian crises. The authors suggest that one of the reasons for this is the paucity of efforts to clarify the meaning of the continuum in a way that leads to an understanding of humanitarian crises in general and crisis-specific settings. This chapter compares general approaches to the continuum of humanitarian crisis management, mainly ‘Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development,’ ‘Relief to Development,’ ‘Seamless Assistance,’ ‘Early Recovery,’ and ‘Resilience.’ It describes parallel understandings of the continuum as a matter of actors and as a matter of phases, and also underscores the importance of funding. The chapter then advances a multi-layered activities model as the most basic, common understanding of the continuum; such model addresses two major challenges: internalizing the non-linearity of the process in the conception of crisis management, and build in prevention as part of it. Finally, a list of issues and limitations of the model is included, all of which are explored through the empirical work in the subsequent chapters.
Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, 2018
This chapter provides an introduction to the three cases on disasters, starting from the presenta... more This chapter provides an introduction to the three cases on disasters, starting from the presentation of disaster management as a cycle. The simplified depiction of prevention, response, and recovery as a cycle conveys the idea of the continuum as a sequential process of activities that is easy to teach and assimilate. Nevertheless, the linear cycle is far from an accurate representation of disaster management because it gives the incorrect impression that progress is not possible and ignores how phases overlap in practice. Addressing the continuum of crisis management thus implies a richer and more complex understanding of disaster management, something that has been evolving in the disaster risk reduction community. To understand this evolution, two experiences related to the continuum are described in the chapter: first, a humanitarian perspective as fleshed out by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); and second, a developmental perspective from global agreements that ensued after the International Decade for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) in the nineties. These experiences suggest how strategies, coordination and funding for the whole of the continuum have become gradually available. This chapter provides the background from which each of the subsequent case studies has been developed.
Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, 2018
Prevention phase in crisis management is usually framed as an activity undertaken before a disast... more Prevention phase in crisis management is usually framed as an activity undertaken before a disaster occurs; but more often it takes place after a catastrophe. This chapter illustrates how this happens following the experience after Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, identifying how prevention overlaps and connects with relief and recovery. The chapter starts examining the characteristics of the prevention phase as part of the continuum. It provides a historical account of relief and recovery phases conducted by national actors, the US, EU and Japan, focusing on ways they influenced and overlapped prevention-related activities. This shows how prevention took shape from the very beginning of the emergency and evolved in parallel to other phases. It then examines prevention-specific activities—specifically, the conformation of the disaster risk management (DRM) system and the conciliation of different strands of work relevant to DRM. Conflicting visions and inexperience with DRM, lack of in-country experience for international agencies, and time constraints and pressure mostly for political reasons, were significant challenges for the recovery and prevention phases. It is worth noting how small the share of prevention activities was in the initial plans for recovery, and how easily this became progressively displaced from the agenda afterward.
Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, 2018
This chapter begins with overviews of the key findings from armed conflicts and disaster case stu... more This chapter begins with overviews of the key findings from armed conflicts and disaster case studies. It follows with a comparative analysis of these types of crises, a synthesis of factors identified in the cases that enabled or hindered the realization of the continuum, and finally the overall implications for international cooperation. Despite deficient knowledge and understanding of the continuum, most actors involved in humanitarian crises management are striving to do more than relief within their organizational capacity. However, such efforts are mostly restricted to linking relief and recovery phases, followed by some form of development; thereby overlooking crisis prevention as a management phase engendered during relief and recovery. The analysis indicates three major factors that could facilitate or hinder the success of approaches to the continuum: country ownership of the process; policy expertise and capacities related to crisis management; and the existence of multiple actors that engage and complement each other's efforts. Finally, the chapter highlights three major suggestions for realizing the continuum: to recognize that crisis management is not linear, to put 'local' at the center, and to ensure that prevention starts from day one of a crisis
Human Security and Cross-Border Cooperation in East Asia, 2019
As the experiences of the Great East Japan Earthquake showed, conventional aid such as sending re... more As the experiences of the Great East Japan Earthquake showed, conventional aid such as sending relief goods and rescue teams may be less useful, and sometimes burdensome. Was the Japanese government’s decision to accommodate all types of offers of external assistance the best possible option from a human security viewpoint? Declining such conventional relief aid should not be denounced but understood. Non-conventional aid such as special skills to deal with the nuclear accident appeared more useful in this case, although these forms of aid require coordination and preparation in peacetime. Forging grass-roots solidarity is effective in the longer term.
This chapter describes the motivation of the research project, provides the theoretical framework... more This chapter describes the motivation of the research project, provides the theoretical framework of the entire book, and gives a summary of the findings of the case study chapters. In the process of diffusion of human security norms in East Asia, several features have emerged. First, East Asians have accepted a comprehensive definition of human security regarding the perception of threats. Second, East Asians tend to think that human security and state security are complementary. Third, the constituent elements of the human security norms such as freedom from fear and from want, freedom to live in dignity, protection, and empowerment are already accepted by East Asian nations. We need an extra effort to elevate human security to a full-fledged norm in the region.
This chapter provides a comparative analysis of the 11 case studies in the book. Overall, the mos... more This chapter provides a comparative analysis of the 11 case studies in the book. Overall, the most conspicuous finding is a peculiar interaction between the people and the state, in which generalized paternalism and expectations that the state will take care of the needs of the people are often embraced. While this could be viewed as a feature of Eastern political culture, as several authors suggest, the chapter proposes different explanations that can be extracted from the survey. From the perspective of the study of human security theory and practice, it is somewhat surprising to find scarce and conflicting elaborations of empowerment and its relationship with protection; that being said, overall it is comforting to find support for pragmatism over conceptual distinctions.
In today’s world, communities and individuals are exposed to old and new threats such as civil wa... more In today’s world, communities and individuals are exposed to old and new threats such as civil wars, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious diseases, economic downturns, climate change and famines. Human security is an idea and an approach developed to address the pressing needs and moral imperatives arising from those insecurities faced by all humankind. The idea urges to secure fundamental freedoms for everyone, i.e., freedom from fear, freedom from want, and freedom to live in dignity, by combining top-down protection and bottom-up empowerment. While the importance of such an idea has been increasingly discussed since its emergence in the mid-1990s, the ways to operationalize it in practice remain a contested matter. In particular, the practice of Japan’s ODA has received less attention despite Japan being the only government fully committed to the promotion of human security, with ODA as its major tool since 2003. Aiming to inform practice in coming decades, this paper explores the ways how to operationalize the idea, by following the recent history of Japan’s ODA activities related to human security. After briefly recounting the connection between Japan’s ODA and the idea of human security at the policy level, we trace the evolution of its practice, mainly focusing on bilateral contributions by JICA, in the four emblematic areas linked to human security: natural disasters, climate change, infectious diseases and violent conflict. Our examination reveals that Japan’s ODA practice has, in general, been evolving in a way that resonates with the idea of human security. In order to consolidate this trend and to further operationalize human security, however, there still remains much to be done. We have identified three significant directions that can be taken to further operationalize human security: emphasizing prevention, realizing seamless assistance, and caring for the most vulnerable.
Sovereignty has been central to the emergence of liberal humanitarianism in the West. Government ... more Sovereignty has been central to the emergence of liberal humanitarianism in the West. Government abuse of the doctrine of non-interference when dealing with domestic threats is seen as a major concern, justifying action without borders. Traditional humanitarian principles were conceived to deal with such sovereignty excuse to deny access, particularly neutrality so the most vulnerable populations could be reached despite political sensitivities and independence to avoid cooption from inside. Sovereignty was in the beginning one, if not the, nemesis of the humanitarian movement.
Nonetheless, the conception of sovereignty has been changing and it is not totally clear whether humanitarianism has caught up with its evolution. The first fierce test came after the end of the Cold War, when the international community embraced humanitarian reasons for international action, giving way to “humanitarian interventions.” Against this background, a new idea of “sovereignty as responsibility” gained attention, stressing the obligation for citizens’ protection that is implied by state sovereignty. This idea inspired the “responsibility to protect” doctrine, which tried to solve the problem of justifying intervention in the sovereignty-centric society of nations and, by so doing, also tried to disentangle military intervention from humanitarian practice.
Such “sovereignty as responsibility” is not the nemesis feared at the outset of modern humanitarianism, so, does this renewed conception of sovereignty affect the nature of humanitarianism? I discuss how this new sovereignty as responsibility disrupts humanitarian action, offering some entry points for a grounded discussion based on the evolution of crisis response in East Asia, understood as comprising both the East and the Southeast.
As an intellectual offspring of human development ideas and practice, the evolution of the human ... more As an intellectual offspring of human development ideas and practice, the evolution of the human security concept can offer some insights about how to rethink human development in the post-2015 era. This view originates from human security’s focus on a deep understanding of threats, downside risks and crises. We suggest that there are three basic challenges that new human development thinking should address, namely: countering the shock-driven response to global threats that drives attention away from those left behind, promoting a culture of prevention, and catching up conceptually with the deep global transformations taking place in relation to development.
The present article discusses manifold ways in which the notion of human security revitalizes our... more The present article discusses manifold ways in which the notion of human security revitalizes our understanding of people’s reaction to sudden downturns. The argument is placed against the backdrop of recent experiences unfolded by the Great East Japan Earthquake, which the authors have witnessed with a sense of urgency. We also deal with a comprehensive set of key ideas related to human security, such as human development, human rights, national security, risk and sustainability. Listening to the voices of the
insecure, transmitting their messages to decision-makers in critical situations is emphasized as a sine qua non of the human security approach. The target of inquiry should be both psychological and physical insecurities of the most vulnerable to risks and threats,
especially the ways in which they perceive insecurities as a matter of life experience. The idea of human security is premised upon a framework beyond methodological individualism, envisioning a holistic system that would accommodate sustainable interactions between nature and human society.
The present literature review aims to provide a panoramic view of the different ways in which the... more The present literature review aims to provide a panoramic view of the different ways in which the link between climate change and migration has been addressed in the existing literature, building on the recent non-annotated bibliography issued by the International Organization for Migration in December 2012. After a brief introduction of the background and the plurality of methodologies behind academic studies about the connection of the two phenomena, the review identifies four main themes and debates ongoing in the literature, namely: (1) scale and location of the climate induced migration, (2) mechanisms behind its occurrence, (3) emerging recognition of migration as adaptation, not only as an impact, and (4) measures for its management. Gaps in need of further work are divided into areas for analysis and areas for advocacy. Included among the former are more in situ knowledge production, focus on cities and additional research following a differentiated approach— e.g., gendered. Advocacy approaches need to motivate further research, maintaining advances against the stigmatization of migrants. The review is informed by human security ideas, which are presented as buttressing analyses at levels different from the national, facilitating joined-up thinking and providing a flexible framework to accommodate multiple layers of climate- migration interaction.
This note should be read in conjunction with the Regional/ National Human Development Report Tool... more This note should be read in conjunction with the Regional/ National Human Development Report Toolkit.
While the toolkit provides general guidance on preparing a Regional or National Human Development Report, this note gives specific suggestions on how to approach the concept of human security as a topic for such a report.
Human security analysis considers the intersection of deprivation and vulnerability, and is an es... more Human security analysis considers the intersection of deprivation and vulnerability, and is an essential part, or partner, of human development thinking, giving special attention to risks and forces of disruption and destruction. This paper highlights six strands or styles in such work since 1994: violent conflict, and its prevention and resolution; crime and ‘citizen security’; psychological insecurity; environmental change; comprehensive identification and comparison of all major threats; and study of selected priority threats in a particular time and place. The main attention in the paper goes to the first, second and fifth of these topics. The 1994 Human Development Report’s list of seven categories of frequently threatened values was not intended to promote consideration of each in isolation, for threats interconnect, their relative importance changes, and comparisons are required. The flexibility required runs counter to vested interests and established patterns of inclusion/exclusion; security is too often equated to familiar means instead of related to the changing agenda of threats. In each context, the paper advises regular alternation of broad-horizon studies to identify priority areas and their linkages, with narrower horizon studies that explore in depth the threats and alternatives within pre-selected priority fields.
This document is based on the findings of a research project at Japan International Cooperation A... more This document is based on the findings of a research project at Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute. The research team conducted a review of the literature, interviews with major stakeholders in the international community and case studies as well as examined outcome documents of the World Humanitarian Summit process, including the Secretary General's ‘One Humanity: Shared Responsibility' report.
Today’s constant flows of persons and information across frontiers mean that, when an emergency o... more Today’s constant flows of persons and information across frontiers mean that, when an emergency occurs, the international community feels it has to get involved not only out of solidarity but because its citizens could be in danger.
This paper describes the introduction of an emphasis on ‘personal security’ in human security thi... more This paper describes the introduction of an emphasis on ‘personal security’ in human security thinking and practice, as part of the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to compartmentalize the pursuit of security. It reviews the past 20 years of attention to ‘personal security’: both in compartments that consider organized physical violence or threats to personal safety and property (‘citizen security’), and as parts of more wide-ranging examination of threats to fulfilment of basic needs and rights, for example, in comprehensive mapping exercises undertaken in various UNDP Regional and National Human Development Reports or in studies of women’s security. The paper reflects on the complex process of opening-up conventional security thinking and practice in ways that add value and depth without shrinking into preconceived compartments.
In addressing humanitarian crises, the international community has long understood the need to ex... more In addressing humanitarian crises, the international community has long understood the need to extend beyond providing immediate relief, and to engage with long-term recovery activities and the prevention of similar crises in the future. However, this continuum from short-term relief to rehabilitation and development has often proved difficult to achieve. This book aims to shed light on the continuum of humanitarian crisis management, particularly from the viewpoint of major bilateral donors and agencies. Focusing on cases of armed conflicts and disasters, the authors describe the evolution of approaches and lessons learnt in practice when moving from emergency relief to recovery and prevention of future crises.
Drawing on an extensive research project conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute, this book compares how a range of international organizations, bilateral cooperation agencies, NGOs, and research institutes have approached the continuum in international humanitarian crisis management. The book draws on six humanitarian crises case studies, each resulting from armed conflict or natural disasters: Timor-Leste, South Sudan, the Syrian crisis, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, and Typhoon Yolanda. The book concludes by proposing a common conceptual framework designed to appeal to different stakeholders involved in crisis management.
Following on from the World Humanitarian Summit, where a new way of working on the humanitarian-development nexus was highlighted as one of five major priority trends, this book is a timely contribution to the debate which should interest researchers of humanitarian studies, conflict and peace studies, and disaster risk-management.
The idea of human security, one of the human-centric norms born in the United Nation, has been cr... more The idea of human security, one of the human-centric norms born in the United Nation, has been criticized, embraced, and dynamically transformed in nations of East Asia (ASEAN Plus Three), where people are exposed to serious insecurities such as natural disasters, pollution, epidemics, armed conflicts and possible economic downturns. While there is a kaleidoscopic diversity of human security actors and aspirations, East Asians tend to think that human security and national sovereignty are compatible, and attach particular weight to freedom to live in dignity, one of the core values of human security. Elements of human security are already entrenched in the East Asian reality. This book ponders what, then, should be done next in this world of global connectivity. Yoichi Mine is Professor in the Graduate School of Global Studies at Doshisha University, Japan. Oscar A. Gómez is Research Fellow at the Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute (JICA-RI), Japan. Ako Muto is Senior Research Fellow at the Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute (JICA-RI), Japan.
Asian journal of comparative politics, Aug 17, 2021
This article aims to explain why Japan has been at the periphery of the international humanitaria... more This article aims to explain why Japan has been at the periphery of the international humanitarian system, at least for the past two decades. Based on a review of the main features of the country's historical involvement in humanitarian crisis response, I suggest two main reasons: 1) the difficulty for Japan to adapt to the kind of institutions created after the end of the Cold War, mainly by Western actors, and 2) Japan's preference for an integral approach to crisis management, using multiple international cooperation means, which falls outside of the present humanitarian diplomacy paradigm. As this paradigm comes into question, Japan can influence the emerging humanitarian system, particularly through the promotion of crisis management ownership and long-term commitment backed by multiple financial means.
This paper questions the pertinence of the humanitarian aid localization agenda in Latin America,... more This paper questions the pertinence of the humanitarian aid localization agenda in Latin America, at least in the narrow sense embraced by the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit. Localized support has been the standard practice in the region for decades, thanks to at least two correlated factors: the Monroe Doctrine limiting intervention to the USA and regional efforts to resist such intervention. Instead, humanitarian action in the region is an example of a particular way of understating localization, mainly specialized support to specific issues, no distinction between humanitarian or development divisions, and coexistence of different response approaches, synthesizing international and local experiences that intermingle with community practices and traditions, under national government leadership. Governments, together with NGOs, civil protection, and other relevant actors from international cooperation and development, engage in crises based on a long-standing tradition of risk mana...
Des Gasper is Professor of Human Development, Development Ethics and Public Policy at the Interna... more Des Gasper is Professor of Human Development, Development Ethics and Public Policy at the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. Recent publications include Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on human insecurity, co-edited with T. D. Truong et al., and published by Springer, and “Approaching Development Projects from a Human Development and Capability Perspective,” co-authored with A. Apsan Frediani and A. Boni for the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities (15(1), 1–12).
Today’s constant flows of persons and information across frontiers mean that, when an emergency o... more Today’s constant flows of persons and information across frontiers mean that, when an emergency occurs, the international community feels it has to get involved not only out of solidarity but because its citizens could be in danger.
This article aims to explain why Japan has been at the periphery of the international humanitaria... more This article aims to explain why Japan has been at the periphery of the international humanitarian system, at least for the past two decades. Based on a review of the main features of the country's historical involvement in humanitarian crisis response, I suggest two main reasons: 1) the difficulty for Japan to adapt to the kind of institutions created after the end of the Cold War, mainly by Western actors, and 2) Japan's preference for an integral approach to crisis management, using multiple international cooperation means, which falls outside of the present humanitarian diplomacy paradigm. As this paradigm comes into question, Japan can influence the emerging humanitarian system, particularly through the promotion of crisis management ownership and long-term commitment backed by multiple financial means.
This paper documents a food panic in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, following the March 11, 2011, Gre... more This paper documents a food panic in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, following the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake. A food panic is defined as a situation in which the general population fears losing access to food supplies, including drinking water, for an unknown length of time and, as a consequence, exhibits at least one of the following abnormal behaviors: panic buying, hoarding, or panic flight, probably aggravated by indiscriminate price hikes. Primary and secondary data, including media reports, official documents, direct observation, semistructured interviews, and an original survey, describe the characteristics of the food panic and suggest the mechanisms behind its occurrence. The reactions of major actors are depicted, highlighting the importance of the private sector in dealing with food panics. Suggestions for preparedness against such panics and challenges in future studies are covered in the last section.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science, 2017
The topic of climate change and migration attracts a strong following from the media and produces... more The topic of climate change and migration attracts a strong following from the media and produces an increase in academic literature and reports from international governmental institutions and NGOs. It poses questions that point to the core of social and environmental developments of the 21st century, such as environmental and climate justice as well as North–South relations. This article examines the main features of the debate and presents a genealogy of the discussion on climate change and migration since the 1980s. It presents an analysis of different framings and lines of argument, such as the securitization of climate change and connections to development studies and adaptation research. This article also presents methodological and conceptual questions, such as how to conceive interactions between migration and climate change. As legal aspects have played a crucial role since the beginning of the debate, different legal strands are considered here, including soft law and pol...
This article analyzes the peripheral role of Latin America in global discussions about human secu... more This article analyzes the peripheral role of Latin America in global discussions about human security. The main hypothesis is that proposals for opening security theories and practices to a “human vision” failed to merge with the evolution of security concepts and institutions in the region over the last twenty years. Hence, there is no constructive communication interface between citizen and human security activities that inform security practices in the medium and long term. This article describes two approaches: (a) the slow development of human security concepts that may be somehow useful to the region due to (b) the positioning of citizen security as an alternative security paradigm in Latin America. Following a conceptual and institutional review of these approaches, the article concludes with some proposals to establish a dynamic and effective bridge between these two visions. Spanish El presente artículo analiza el papel periférico de Latinoamérica en las discusiones mundial...
This paper locates human security ideas vis-à-vis the concept of sustainability in the context of... more This paper locates human security ideas vis-à-vis the concept of sustainability in the context of the new international cooperation challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The main aim is to show how a robust understanding of human security is necessary for rethinking sustainability beyond a narrow focus on environmental problems. The paper provides first a historical review of the overlaps and complementarities between the two concepts as described through the series of Human Development Reports. The review shows how both ideas were initially downplayed and constrained to narrow understandings for over a decade. Sustainability eventually proved broadly appealing to the scientific community and the Global South, as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) show. Still, it failed to include any serious concern for shocks, downside risks and crisis management. The human security approach emphasizes protection and resilience, offering a better frame to cover the whole crisis management cycle of response, recovery, prevention and preparedness. It promotes the consolidation of responsive and capable systems to cope with risks and vulnerabilities, both objective and subjective, by the whole of society. It also advocates protecting human dignity in crises and upholding global agreement on the importance of human life and dignity beyond borders, a notion menaced by increasing protectionism and nationalism worldwide. After the general discussion, we review specific shocks or downside risks compromising prospects for future generations, namely infectious diseases, disasters, climate change, conflict, displacement and technological change. The last section calls for promoting the engagement of the scientific community and actors in the Global South around human security ideas to move forward their operationalization.
Uploads
Their experience in the region and beyond provides a mix of characteristics that result in a unique understanding of crisis and response. Latin America is rather well-off and—except for Haiti—is mostly outside the scope of major humanitarian emergencies. However, Latin America is still affected by high inequality, organized crime, and all types of disasters, while hosting a major population displacement in Colombia as a result of civil conflict. Thus, emerging countries of the region remain on the global humanitarian watch list.
The paper explores this duality, based on over one hundred semi-structured interviews in the selected countries, complemented with direct observations and primary data analysis. Among significant findings, the paper describes a historical resistance from the region to be seen as the locus of humanitarian crisis, reflected both through capacity building and diplomacy. At least four older and more recent principles of action are identified, namely ‘non-indifference’, ‘reciprocity’, ‘sustainability’, and ‘horizontality’. In particular, horizontality underscores a rich diversity of South-South exchanges between line ministries and other offices in charge of specific crises that goes beyond being ‘donors’. Indeed, emerging countries explicitly challenge the traditional humanitarian establishment, so their contributions are better understood as reflecting ongoing transformations in their human development and security agendas.
Their experience in the region and beyond provides a mix of characteristics that result in a unique understanding of crisis and response. Latin America is rather well-off and—except for Haiti—is mostly outside the scope of major humanitarian emergencies. However, Latin America is still affected by high inequality, organized crime, and all types of disasters, while hosting a major population displacement in Colombia as a result of civil conflict. Thus, emerging countries of the region remain on the global humanitarian watch list.
The paper explores this duality, based on over one hundred semi-structured interviews in the selected countries, complemented with direct observations and primary data analysis. Among significant findings, the paper describes a historical resistance from the region to be seen as the locus of humanitarian crisis, reflected both through capacity building and diplomacy. At least four older and more recent principles of action are identified, namely ‘non-indifference’, ‘reciprocity’, ‘sustainability’, and ‘horizontality’. In particular, horizontality underscores a rich diversity of South-South exchanges between line ministries and other offices in charge of specific crises that goes beyond being ‘donors’. Indeed, emerging countries explicitly challenge the traditional humanitarian establishment, so their contributions are better understood as reflecting ongoing transformations in their human development and security agendas.
Nonetheless, the conception of sovereignty has been changing and it is not totally clear whether humanitarianism has caught up with its evolution. The first fierce test came after the end of the Cold War, when the international community embraced humanitarian reasons for international action, giving way to “humanitarian interventions.” Against this background, a new idea of “sovereignty as responsibility” gained attention, stressing the obligation for citizens’ protection that is implied by state sovereignty. This idea inspired the “responsibility to protect” doctrine, which tried to solve the problem of justifying intervention in the sovereignty-centric society of nations and, by so doing, also tried to disentangle military intervention from humanitarian practice.
Such “sovereignty as responsibility” is not the nemesis feared at the outset of modern humanitarianism, so, does this renewed conception of sovereignty affect the nature of humanitarianism? I discuss how this new sovereignty as responsibility disrupts humanitarian action, offering some entry points for a grounded discussion based on the evolution of crisis response in East Asia, understood as comprising both the East and the Southeast.
risks and crises. We suggest that there are three basic challenges that new human development thinking should address, namely: countering the shock-driven response to global threats that drives attention away from those left behind, promoting a culture of prevention, and catching up
conceptually with the deep global transformations taking place in relation to development.
insecure, transmitting their messages to decision-makers in critical situations is emphasized as a sine qua non of the human security approach. The target of inquiry should be both psychological and physical insecurities of the most vulnerable to risks and threats,
especially the ways in which they perceive insecurities as a matter of life experience. The idea of human security is premised upon a framework beyond methodological individualism, envisioning a holistic system that would accommodate sustainable interactions between nature and human society.
While the toolkit provides general guidance on preparing a Regional or National Human Development Report, this note gives specific suggestions on how to approach the concept of human security as a topic for such a report.
Drawing on an extensive research project conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute, this book compares how a range of international organizations, bilateral cooperation agencies, NGOs, and research institutes have approached the continuum in international humanitarian crisis management. The book draws on six humanitarian crises case studies, each resulting from armed conflict or natural disasters: Timor-Leste, South Sudan, the Syrian crisis, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, and Typhoon Yolanda. The book concludes by proposing a common conceptual framework designed to appeal to different stakeholders involved in crisis management.
Following on from the World Humanitarian Summit, where a new way of working on the humanitarian-development nexus was highlighted as one of five major priority trends, this book is a timely contribution to the debate which should interest researchers of humanitarian studies, conflict and peace studies, and disaster risk-management.