Traditional National Security Essay

1077 Words3 Pages

People decided that the traditional concepts of national security were not enough, and did not necessarily reflect current values or the needs of the people. Traditional concepts of national security place the nation-state at the center of the playing field, and use military and economic power to protect the state’s political and physical sovereignty from external threats. Human security places individuals at the center of the playing field, and focuses on issues that are both transnational and local. The scope of what both traditional national security and human security hone in on can vary wildly from issue to issue. However, traditional national security concepts focus on a more nation-state-based point of view. For example, in a more realist …show more content…

Environmental security is one of these thing. Pollution cannot be contained within borders, and therefore is a national threat. For example, a good portion of California’s air pollution is actually from China. The Paris Climate Agreement used to have a good chance of going into action, because nations recognized that pollution is damaging, especially in physical aspects. Environmental degradation also hurts on the individual level, however. For example, white trying to pay off their debts Haiti deforested itself. Now, there are no trees to offset the effects of mudslides and such when events like hurricanes occur, causing destruction and the deaths of thousands (Amuedo-Dorantes et al). Disease is another factor that bleeds across borders and can cause destruction on international, national, and individual levels. While there are a lot of factors not mentioned that intersect between human and traditional national security, there most likely will not be much consolidation due to the emphasis put on militaries, the current procedures in many places on how to handle incidences of interest and foreign relations, and the recent emphasis on security. A state-centric view is likely to maintain its place of …show more content…

My instinct is to say that the absolute essentials are clean water, food, shelter, and the like, because those are what I was taught are basic necessity to survive. However, millions of people live without clean water and are still alive, so that throws my previous statement for a loop. I have a very privileged view of what should be universal human rights, but one thing that I absolutely believe is that everyone should get some sort of an education. It does not have to be fancy, but education is the way that people are able to have the tools to change their lives. It allows people in different societies to truly be able to decide for themselves what rights that they think are essential. Everyone should have a chance to learn about the theories widely accepted around the world, as well as be able to come up with their

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