New challenges and revision of the human security concept

Abstract

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and ending the division of the world into two big military blocs, security doctrines slowly began to change. In the 1990s, a new concept gained momentum, and that was the concept of human security. This concept views national security through the state of economy, social and financial satisfaction of its citizens and overall level of political freedoms and culture. Military and police power do not have primacy any more when it comes to implementation of human security concept. As some authors highlight, human security can even be measured through number of future years spent outside a state of generalized poverty (King & Murray, 2001). A traditional perspective on security is focused on military and police power which ensure territorial integrity. Human security, on the other hand, pays attention to the environmental quality, for example, as an important factor of economic and social development of the society, as well as to susceptibility of a community to natural disasters, political instabilities and similar. Certain countries define human security as safety from violent and non-violent threats. However, during the past few years, as well as in 2015 and 2016, the world has been facing numerous instabilities and big challenges such as human migrations from war-torn or poverty-stricken countries – so-called third world countries. Millions of refugees reach European countries and the USA via several sea and land routes. Western countries and their citizens are faced with serious challenges that exceed the concept and measures of human security. A large influx of migrants, even when their need to look for a better life is taken into consideration, poses the danger of different traditional and cultural influences, social norms, as well as of criminogenic behavior. Experts predict that the number of migrants in the years to come will increase, and that fact leads to the following question: Can the concept of human security solve this challenge or is it necessary to establish new security strategies? Should concepts of military and police power as a pillar of the state return to the mainstream to a certain extent or completely?