Contemporary Security Challenges Research Articles

Art after 9/11

This article examines ways in which art can help broaden understandings of contemporary security challenges, especially in view of the limits of conventional forms of strategic and policy analysis. The article focuses especially on responses to 9/11 in literature, the visual arts, architecture, and music, and considers some epistemological questions about the status of art as a way of knowing political events, like those of 9/11, that escape state-based forms of security analysis.

“Providing for the Common Defense?” The Outsourcing of America's National Security through the Commercial Sale of Arms and Arms Production

How can a democracy and the tenets of democratic society be preserved and protected amid the contemporary security challenges that pose a threat to democracy and its tenets? As democracies fashion their new security strategies to deal with these new threats, what are the chances that some of these cures might pose more harm than good? This paper describes what has emerged over the past decade as perhaps the greatest unintended consequence facing the United States and global security: the globalization of the conventional arms market and the commercialization and “foreignization” of the US military-industrial complex. President Eisenhower's 1961 warning has come home to roost in the early 2000s, now representing an “outsourcing of national security” at risk of escalating as much as deflating the security challenges facing American democracy today.

Education, underdevelopment, unnecessary war and human security in Kosovo/Kosova

This paper examines educational linkages to persistent conflicts and contemporary security challenges in Kosovo. It reviews some historic foundations, debates and socioeconomic contexts concerning education as a security issue. It argues that poverty and underdevelopment coupled with failed diplomacy (particularly surrounding a 1996 “Education Accord”)—with inappropriate militarized responses to disputes amidst broader and chronic lack of attention to education concerns—contributed to human rights abuses, violent civil conflict and a major war in 1999. Without justifying violence on either side, the paper shows how both Albanian and Serbs were both responsible for abuses in different periods while education was a contributing factor. The paper further discusses how education has (problematically) been part of the human security building and “reconstruction” process after NATO 1999 while many issues that led to international military intervention remain unresolved some 5 years later. It closes with some reflections on post-war or “post-conflict” education dilemmas, cooperation imperatives and new research challenges for Kosovo.

The ICRC's approach to contemporary security challenges: A future for independent and neutral humanitarian action

Les premierès années du XXP siècle ont indéniablement été difficiles — et souvent dramatiques — pour la conduite des opérations humanitaires. La polarisation du monde, de plus en plus marquée, la «guerre contre le terrorisme» et la diversification des acteurs impliqués dans les conflits qui agitent la planéte ont transformé l'environnement dans lequel I'action humanitaire est menée. Conjuguée au concept de gestion intégrée des crises (combinant des outils politiques, militaires et humanitaires), cette réalité suscite le risque d'un rejet ou d'une instrumentalisation du personnel humanitaire par les parties aux conflits.Les nouvelles formes de violence — en particulier la globalisation des risques et des menaces, la dynamique des conflits n'étant plus circonscrite à une seule zone geographique — interpellent aussi les organisations humanitaires. Le fait que les organisations d'aide et leur personnel soient délibérément pris pour cibles souléve des questions quant à la capacité de ces organisations de remplir leur mandat dans certaines situations et a engendré un large debat sur I'avenir de I'action humanitaire.II va sans dire que les enjeux de ce débat sont immenses pour le CICR. Dans cet article, le directeur des operations du CICR émet quelques réflexions et indications sur la manière dont le CICR évalue les évolutions récentes dans I'espace humanitaire, tant en matiére de sécurité que sur le plan opérationnel. Elles vont de la gestion de la sécurité, à I'identité et à I'image, à la pertinence constante des principes qui sous-tendent les modes d'action du CICR. L'auteur conclut en définissant les paramètres et les conditions de I'avenir d'une action humanitaire neutre, impartiale et indépendante.

Toward an Understanding of Nonlethality

In recent times, growing attention has been given to the possible role “nonlethal” technology might play in helping to resolve contemporary security challenges. The concept of nonlethality offers the possibility of reducing suffering through the application of weapons designed and intended to minimize unnecessary harmful effects. Despite this promise and the accompanying expansion of literature on nonlethal weapons, there are basic disagreements about the nature of nonlethality. This article considers how we should conceive of the effects of nonlethal weapons and the underlying notions of lethality and nonlethality. An approach is proposed for elucidating how their characteristics and effects could be understood.

Europe's precarious centre: Franco‐German co‐operation and the CFSP

This article takes the pulse of the Franco‐German security relationship and analyses its implications for the future development of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It starts with a brief historical overview of this relationship before discussing Europe's contemporary and future security challenges from the perspectives of Paris and Berlin. It evaluates Europe's ‘lessons‐learned’ from the war against Yugoslavia over Kosovo and concludes that in a more complex and wider Europe, the Franco‐German axis may be one important partnership among many, but certainly not the quintessential and fundamental driving force for further European integration as during past decades. Especially in the security and defence fields, an Anglo‐French‐German entente is likely to emerge which will be beneficial for the development of a European CFSP and European security in general.

Contemporary Security Challenges in Southeast Asia

Contemporary Security Challenges in Southeast Asia