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Securing Humanity: Situating 'Human Security' as Concept and Discourse

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  • Des Gasper

Abstract

The label 'human security' has attracted much attention since the 1994 Human Development Report, but there are numerous conflicting definitions and agendas, and widespread scepticism. The Ogata-Sen Commission report Human Security Now has proposed a unified yet flexible definition and agenda. This paper specifies the Human Security Now concept as the intersection of: a concern with reasoned freedoms; a focus on basic needs; and a concern for stability as well as levels in key human development dimensions. Second, it specifies other elements of this human security discourse: a normative focus on individuals' lives and an insistence on basic rights for all; and an explanatory agenda that stresses the nexus between freedom from want and indignity and freedom from fear. Third, it clarifies where the human security discourse repeats the basic human needs conception, and where it adds and shows the consistency of the human security, human needs and human rights languages. Fourth, it specifies the types of intellectual 'boundary work' that the concept and discourse attempt: mobilizing attention and concern, connecting explanatory and normative agendas, and linking diverse intellectual and policy communities. Finally, it assesses human security as a boundary concept, including the particular label chosen, and diagnoses the threats as well as opportunities implicit in security language.

Suggested Citation

  • Des Gasper, 2005. "Securing Humanity: Situating 'Human Security' as Concept and Discourse," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 221-245.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jhudca:v:6:y:2005:i:2:p:221-245
    DOI: 10.1080/14649880500120558
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Prabhir Poruthiyil, 2013. "Weaning Business Ethics from Strategic Economism: The Development Ethics Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(4), pages 735-749, September.
    2. Hugh Dyer & Maria Julia Trombetta (ed.), 2013. "International Handbook of Energy Security," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15019.
    3. Gasper, D.R., 2007. "Problem- and policy-analysis for human development," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18743, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    4. Gasper, D.R., 2007. "Values, vision, proposals and networks: using ideas in leadership for human development," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18758, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    5. Gasper, D.R., 2010. "Climate change and the language of human security," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19843, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    6. Bogdan Cwik, 2020. "The Personal Security of Inhabitants of Selected Countries in the Light of Research on the Perceiving of Threats Caused by the COVID-19 Virus," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 2), pages 747-765.
    7. Gasper, D.R., 2007. "Human Rights, Human Needs, Human Development, Human Security," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18749, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    8. Gasper, D.R. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. & Truong, T.-D. & Walker, A., 2008. "Human security and social quality: contrasts and complementaries," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18731, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    9. Sylvia I. Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen & Nigel Jollands, 2013. "Human security and energy security: a sustainable energy system as a public good," Chapters, in: Hugh Dyer & Maria Julia Trombetta (ed.), International Handbook of Energy Security, chapter 23, pages 507-526, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Wills, Eduardo & Orozco, Luis & Forero, Clemente & Pardo, Oscar & Andonova, Veneta, 2010. "The relationship between perceptions of insecurity, social capital and subjective well-being: Empirical evidences from conflicted rural Colombia," Galeras. Working Papers Series 026, Universidad de Los Andes. Facultad de Administración. School of Management.
    11. Sima Ataollahi Eshkoor & Tengku Hamid & Siti Nudin & Chan Mun, 2014. "The Effects of Social Support, Substance Abuse and Health Care Supports on Life Satisfaction in Dementia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 535-544, April.
    12. Bueger, Christian, 2015. "What is maritime security?," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 159-164.
    13. Wills-Herrera, Eduardo & Orozco, Luz E. & Forero-Pineda, Clemente & Pardo, Oscar & Andonova, Venetta, 2011. "The relationship between perceptions of insecurity, social capital and subjective well-being: Empirical evidences from areas of rural conflict in Colombia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 88-96, February.
    14. Oscar A. Martinez-Martinez & Ana-Maria Vazquez-Rodriguez & Margaret Lombe & Pablo Gaitan-Rossi, 2018. "Incorporating Public Insecurity Indicators: A New Approach to Measuring Social Welfare in Mexico," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 453-475, April.

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