Biosecurity and Human Security in the Post-Pandemic Era: From the Perspective of the Welsh School

Abstract

The devastating consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have been significantly challenging the international community’s efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve a safe, prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable world. Undoubtedly, the spread of COVID-19 underscores the dangers and challenges to biosecurity and human security on a global scale. In this context, one of the mainstays of Critical Security Studies, the Welsh School, with its focus on human security and emancipation, offers such rewarding views for comprehending human well-being in the post-pandemic era. Given current circumstances, this paper intends to introduce the shift in the focus of security studies from traditional to non-traditional security first, starting with the expansion of the security studies’ ranges in the post-pandemic era. Besides, concepts related to biosecurity and human security that have attracted much attention in recent years will also be illustrated in the second part. In the following third part, the Welsh School’s arguments and concerns, especially those related to human security and emancipation and security community, will be analyzed in detail, and what state actors and non-state actors, especially international organizations, can do for biosecurity governance promotion and human security protection in the post-pandemic era will also be analyzed in the fourth part. Last but not least, the prospects for the Welsh School’s contribution to biosecurity and human security will be discussed in the conclusion part.