Abstract
There has been a gradual move towards recognising more diverse security issues as posing security threats to more diverse actors in broader frontiers. While the multidimensionality of security is now widely acknowledged in the discourse of security, its impacts on and challenges to international law are yet to be fully examined. Particularly, the expanded conception of security has posed challenges to the UN collective security system. This article considers the challenges posed to collective security, with respect to four different objects of security: national security; international security; human security; and regime security. It discusses the limits of collective security in effectively responding to the expanded conception of security within the existing framework of international law, and revisits alternative security approaches, evaluating their potential to complement collective security in dealing with diverse security objects and threats.
Highlights
Security is an elastic and diverse concept that can be understood in different forms, depending on its objects: the perception of threats, the protected values, and the means through which these values can be protected.1 The changing perception of security threats that already emerged in the 1980s,2 and ways in which these threats are addressed, has led to comprehensive and scientific studies of security concept.3 While the multidimensionality of security is widely acknowledged in the discourse of security, its impacts on and challenges to international law are yet to be fully examined.International security law, at the present stage of development, is primarily found in the United Nations (UN) collective security system
This is based on the norm of non-use of armed force under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and the institution of the UN Security Council vested with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security under Article 24 of the Charter
Collective security is a product of law, based on the delegation of power by sovereign states to a collective entity,5 providing the normative foundation for and means of regulating the behaviour of sovereign states and conflict among them
Summary
Security is an elastic and diverse concept that can be understood in different forms, depending on its objects: the perception of threats, the protected values, and the means through which these values can be protected. The changing perception of security threats that already emerged in the 1980s,2 and ways in which these threats are addressed, has led to comprehensive and scientific studies of security concept. While the multidimensionality of security is widely acknowledged in the discourse of security, its impacts on and challenges to international law are yet to be fully examined. International security law, at the present stage of development, is primarily found in the United Nations (UN) collective security system. This article considers the above challenges posed to the UN collective security system, with a focus on the impacts of an expanded security concept upon international law with respect to four different objects of security: national security; international security; human security; and regime security.
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