Political Science · Ch 5 — Security in the Contemporary World
New Sources of Threats
New Sources of Threats
The traditional view of security focused on military threats from other states. But the world has changed. New sources of threat do not come from armies or borders. They come from terrorism, human rights abuses, poverty, disease, and environmental collapse. These are the concerns of human security and global security — they shift the focus from protecting the state to protecting people.
Terrorism
Terrorism is not new, but it gained global attention after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in America on 11 September 2001. The defining feature of terrorism is that it deliberately and indiscriminately targets civilians. Terrorist groups use force or the threat of force to change a political context or condition they oppose. Civilians are chosen as targets to terrorise the public, and the resulting public unhappiness is used as a weapon against national governments or other parties in a conflict.
Classic examples of terrorist acts include hijacking planes or planting bombs in trains, cafes, markets, and other crowded places. When terrorism involves the citizens or territory of more than one country, it is called international terrorism. In the past, most terror attacks occurred in the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and South Asia.
Human Rights
Human rights are broadly classified into three types:
- Political rights — such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
- Economic and social rights — the right to work, education, healthcare, etc.
- Rights of colonised people or ethnic and indigenous minorities — the right to self-determination and protection from discrimination.
While there is broad agreement on this classification, there is no agreement on which set of rights should be considered universal, nor on what the international community should do when rights are violated. Since the 1990s, events like Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the genocide in Rwanda, and the Indonesian military’s killing of people in East Timor have sparked a debate: should the UN intervene to stop human rights abuses? One side argues that the UN Charter empowers the international community to take up arms in defence of human rights. The other side argues that powerful states will only act when it suits their national interests, so intervention will be selective.
Population, Poverty, and Migration
World population, now at 760 crore, will grow to nearly 1000 crore by the middle of the 21st century. Half of this growth occurs in just six countries: India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. Among the world’s poorest countries, population is expected to triple in the next 50 years, while many rich countries will see their populations shrink.
This creates a vicious cycle. High per capita income and low population growth make rich states and groups richer. Low incomes and high population growth reinforce each other to make poor states and groups poorer. Globally, this disparity widens the gap between the Northern and Southern countries. Within the South itself, disparities have sharpened — some countries have slowed population growth and raised incomes, while others have failed.
The link between poverty and conflict is stark. Most of the world’s armed conflicts now take place in sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region. At the turn of the 21st century, more people were being killed in wars there than in the rest of the world combined. Poverty in the South also drives large-scale migration to the North in search of better economic opportunities, creating international political frictions.
International law distinguishes between:
- Migrants — those who voluntarily leave their home countries.
- Refugees — those who flee from war, natural disaster, or political persecution.
States are generally supposed to accept refugees, but they do not have to accept migrants. People who have fled their homes but remain within national borders are called internally displaced people. An example is the Kashmiri Pandits who fled violence in the Kashmir Valley in the early 1990s.
The world refugee map matches the world conflicts map almost perfectly. From 1990 to 1995, 70 states were involved in 93 wars that killed about 55 lakh people. Individuals, families, and whole communities have been forced to migrate due to generalised fear of violence or the destruction of livelihoods, identities, and living environments. In the 1990s, all but three of the 60 refugee flows coincided with an internal armed conflict.
Global Epidemics and Health Threats
Diseases like HIV-AIDS, bird flu, and SARS have spread rapidly across countries through migration, business, tourism, and military operations. One country’s success or failure in limiting the spread affects infections in other countries. By 2003, an estimated 4 crore people were infected with HIV-AIDS worldwide — two-thirds in Africa and half of the rest in South Asia. In North America and other industrialised countries, new drug therapies dramatically lowered the death rate from HIV-AIDS in the late 1990s. But these treatments were too expensive for poor regions like Africa, where the disease has driven the region deeper into poverty. …
The cartoon shows a large, stylised map of the world. Across the map, several small, identical figures of a man in a suit and tie are scattered — each one is labelled “Terrorist”. The figures are placed in different regions: one in North America, one in Europe, one in the Middle East, one in South Asia, and one in East Asia. Each figure holds a small object that looks like a bomb or an explosive device.
In the centre of the map, a much larger figure of a man in a suit stands with his arms outstretched, as if in confusion or helplessness. This figure is labelled “World”. Around him, the smaller terrorist figures are all pointing at each other, each one gesturing toward another terrorist figure in a different part of the map. The implication is that each terrorist is blaming someone else — no one is taking responsibility, and the “World” figure is caught in the middle, unable to act.
The cartoon’s caption reads: “How should the world address issues shown here?” This is a direct challenge to the reader.
What the cartoon teaches is the central difficulty of dealing with international terrorism in a globalised world. The textbook section explains that terrorism is a non-traditional security threat that targets civilians deliberately and indiscriminately, and that it involves the citizens or territory of more than one country. The cartoon visualises this problem: terrorism is not confined to one region — it is a global phenomenon with actors spread across continents. The pointing fingers among the terrorist figures suggest that states often blame each other for harbouring or sponsoring terrorists, rather than cooperating to solve the problem. The “World” figure, standing helplessly in the middle, represents the international community’s paralysis — the lack of a unified response. …
The cartoon shows a large, stylised globe of the Earth, drawn in a sketch-like style. The globe is the central focus of the image. Around it, several small, simple icons are placed, each representing a different kind of threat or problem that affects the world today.
The icons include: a bomb with a lit fuse (symbolising terrorism or armed conflict), a syringe (representing disease, such as HIV/AIDS or pandemics), a small house or building with a crack running through it (suggesting displacement or destruction of homes), a figure with a question mark (perhaps standing for refugees or stateless people), and a graph line that goes sharply upward (indicating population growth or economic disparity). These icons are scattered around the globe, not confined to any one country or region.
Below the globe, a single human figure stands, looking up at it. The figure is drawn in a simple, almost childlike way, and appears to be a common person — not a politician or soldier. The figure’s posture and expression convey a sense of concern or helplessness. The caption at the bottom reads: “How should the world address issues shown here?” The artist’s credit is given as “Keshav, The Hindu”. …