Human Insecurity Research Articles

Environmental Injustice as a Multiplier of Injustice and Human Insecurity: The Cases of Boko Haram and the Taliban

Background: Geopolitical, geo-economic, and environmental degradation dynamics impact on ecosystems and the communities living in them, creating phenomena of injustice and causing migrations. These events have favored the emergence of repressive forms of power as in the case of Boko Haram and the Taliban. Methods: This article will analyze two cases: Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region (with particular influence in Nigeria) and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Results: The link that connects the two cases examined is the relationship between poverty, environment, and human rights. This leads to a discussion of the function of the agency of the people, as theorized by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, in contexts of environmental degradation and the increase of the vulnerability of individuals especially in contexts of repression. Discussion: In the two cases considered, the groups exploited the population's lack of opportunity, their resentment toward the West, as well as environmental changes in the territory due to climate change to consolidate their power. Conclusion: The purpose of the research is to show how environmental injustice can be a multiplicator of injustice, leading to new social inequalities and forms of power. This is also a source of the increasing of human insecurity.

REINFORCING THE HUMAN SECURITY RESPONSIBILITY FRAMEWORK FOR VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND ENTHRONEMENT OF PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE IN NIGERIA

Nigeria’s quest for peaceful co-existence between and among its diverse ethnic nationalities is seriously threatened by protracted violence and extreme cases of human insecurity across the country in recent years. It is true that violence in its entirety cannot be totally eliminated in human society, but it can be prevented by any responsible State. The view of this article, also, is that the extreme violence cascading Nigeria, which makes it impossible to actualize its desired peaceful co-existence among the culturally diverse communities can be prevented. However, the article asserts that peaceful co-existence can only be possible in Nigeria, if she would be willing and determined to reinforce the human security responsibility framework (HSRF) into its governance imperative. The HSRF is a people-centered, comprehensive, context-specific and violence prevention-oriented mechanism to foster peace, and engender development especially, in developing countries such as Nigeria. The adoption of the HSRF in this article, further reinvigorates the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Resolution 66/290, as a wakeup call on Nigeria to quickly identify and address the widespread and cross-cutting challenges of the survival, livelihood, and dignity of its people. Going further, the article argues that much had not been achieved in Nigeria regarding the promotion of a people-centered, comprehensive, and context-specific, as well as violence prevention-oriented policies targeted at engendering peaceful co-existence in the country. It stems the arguments on the recent incidences of violence across the country that have serious implication on the HSRF, and by extension, the desired peaceful co-existence of its diverse ethnic nationalities. The article, therefore, concludes that Nigeria should adopt the HSRF to safeguard the people and communities’ vital freedom, including freedom from fear, freedom from want, and freedom from indignity in order to achieve her most desired peaceful co-existence among the different ethnic nationalities, clamoured by the operators of the Nigerian State in every democratic dispensation.

Human Insecurity and Deepening Challenges of Field Research Scholarship in Nigeria

Human Insecurity and Deepening Challenges of Field Research Scholarship in Nigeria

Climate change, mobility and violent conflict: a typology of interlinked pathways

Despite increased attention toward the links between climate, human mobility and conflict, the pathways through which resulting human insecurity may lead to violence are poorly understood. Although there is no inherent link between climate-related mobility and conflict, a coherent understanding of the triple nexus is needed to address the impact of intersecting crises on millions of lives and livelihoods. To achieve this, an in-depth literature review is employed to identify and explore four pathways that connect climate, human mobility and violent conflict: conflict as a result of climate-related disaster displacement, conflict as a result of scarcity-related mobility, conflict as a result of abundance-related migration, and conflict as a result of pre-existing tensions and migratory patterns interacting with climate change and/or variability. Finally, recommendations are made to guide research, policies and programming aiming to sever the link between climate-related mobility and conflict, where it may exist.Published open access under a CC BY licence. https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/

Solidarity and Human Insecurity: Interpreting and Extending the HDRO’s 2022 Special Report on Human Security

ABSTRACT The 2022 UNDP Special Report on human security marks an overdue return to this focus in Human Development Reports work. It adds solidarity to the established headline strategies for human security, namely protection and empowerment. While it does not theorise solidarity far, nor connect much to relevant literatures, nor explore implications in detail, it provides an opening of doors. We comment first on the Report’s general significance. It presents itself as a rethinking of human security; it reflects also a rethinking of human development in the Anthropocene and a re-articulation of the core rationale of the United Nations system. Second, we consider how the report presents solidarity: as a required commitment to others, globally; as implication of interconnectedness; and as a required response to uncertainty. Third, we note that the report is only a beginning; it is not yet connected to generations of solidarity thinking and practice nor to present-day streams. Fourthly, we review policy implications proposed in the Report and suggest areas for next-stage attention.

Profit-driven policy and human insecurity

This article provides a holistic account of the deep-rooted structural harms permeating contemporary society, offering theoretical and philosophical analysis of how such harm occurs, and how it is supported and sustained. Context is supplied so as to assess the ways in which profit and power are a primary focality of contemporary societal structures, at the expense of human security. By providing contextual analysis, it assesses the current political, economic, and societal climate and how human insecurity is a by-product of such. Critically considering how profit-driven policies exist within this setting, it offers a critical consideration of how power dynamics create a disparity between social, state and corporate actors and their subjective (il)legal proceedings. The article retains the question of whether true human security is an attainable reality.

Environmental degradation and sustainable peace dialogue in the Niger delta region of Nigeria

Resource-related environmental degradation is a critical issue in Africa, especially in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. Since the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta region, unchecked and unregulated exploration has led to environmental stress and degradation. This study deploys the Environmental Peace Building theory and secondary sources of data to interrogate the dynamics and problems of environmental degradation and how this impacts the peace process and human security. This study argues that the inability of the oil multinationals, state and local governments to address resource exploration and environmental degradation remains a potential source of conflict and instability in the region. This has been made worse by persistent and violent demands for social justice and infrastructural development across the region. The inability of the major stakeholders to effectively deploy the use of dialogue and the lack of sincerity in fulfilling peace agreements, flagrant abuse of international and regional frameworks guiding exploration, and displacement have led to armed conflict, proliferation of small and light weapons, bunkering, kidnapping, human insecurity, poverty and chronic environmental degradation. Undoubtedly, there is the need to examine and reengage the oil multinationals on the need to conform to international and local laws guiding exploration while equally ensuring that they partner with the relevant key stakeholders in the quest for sustainable peace and human security.

Trans-Sahara and Mediterranean Irregular Migration: A Cause of Global Security Threat and a Consequence of Human Insecurity

Trans-Sahara and Mediterranean Irregular Migration: A Cause of Global Security Threat and a Consequence of Human Insecurity

A eugenic attempt to create “upper class”: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

During the first third of the 20th century, scientific advances in genetic research led to an alarm for the modern world and mankind. Under the coercion of artificial intelligence and sterilization programs sponsored by the state, cultural values have been deeply influenced. British author Kazuo Ishiguro, along with his latest novel Klara and the Sun, poses several pertinent questions about the moral standards of existence and humanity. Klara and the Sun is a dystopian novel that offers a speculative future through which the effects of advanced technology, science, and artificial intelligence concepts may be decoded. Ishiguro’s serious concerns about a new society and changing social relations question human insecurity in different layers of the community. The desire to create a master race through a gene-modification process forms the main structure of the narrative. Therefore, based on eugenic attempts in the modern world, this study, addresses the violation of ethical standards that cause inequality, marginalization, and miscommunication. This study seeks to present important insights into the science of genetics and eugenics through the characters of the novel. Josie, a lifted girl, and Rick, an unlifted boy, exemplify the superiors and inferiors of the community that punctures the goals of a biocapitalist and technology-dependent society. In this sense, this article aims to uncover the results of eugenic programs that force people to modify their genes for social improvement, especially social relations.

Urbanization and human security in post-colonial Africa

Urbanization has been unprecedented in post-colonial Africa. While cities and towns (urban areas) are crucial to bolstering economic activities, they are equally perceived as the scene for social and economic problems. This in turn exacerbates urban human insecurity. The paper draws on qualitative research method in exploring the challenges and opportunities that undermine or facilitate achieving sustainable and inclusive cities in post-colonial Africa. Particularly, the role of the African Union through Agenda 2063 in materializing sustainable and efficient cities, against the backdrop of climate change, in post-colonial Africa. The study present statistics on urbanization and human security trends in the region such as the rate of urbanization, quality of life in informal settlements and slums, the share of urban population living in slums, and a correlation matrix on the quality of human development in slums. The study finds that while varied strides have been taken across the African continent on a national level, the problem of coordination, structural/systemic violence, prevalence of external vision for Africa's development, and gaps in policy implementation pose a threat to adequately addressing the perils of urbanization on human security in post-colonial Africa. Irrespective, Agenda 2063 offers the continent the opportunity to prioritize urban human insecurity issues as an emerging non-conventional security threat requiring securitization. Also, it offers an opportunity to re-center people at the heart of policy decisions while creating incentives for member states to meet the aspirations, goals, and targets set out in Agenda 2063, as it pertains to sustainable and inclusive cities in post-colonial Africa.

PERCEPTION OF THE EFFECT OF HUMAN INSECURITY ON AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES AMONG RURAL DWELLERS IN SELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF OYO STATE, NIGERIA

The study focused on perception of the effect of human insecurity on agricultural enterprises of rural dwellers in selected Local Government Areas of Oyo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling was used to select 195 rural dwellers from the study area. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics while Chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used as inferential tools. Results showed that, majority (84.10%) of the respondents were married with mean age of, household size and farming experience estimated at 48 years, 7 persons and 13 years, respectively. Major agricultural enterprises engaged in by the respondents were vegetables production (88.21%), arable crop production (69.74%) and marketing of agricultural products%. Also, respondents perceived destruction of crops by animals (79.49%), encroachment of other person’s farmland without permission (68.72%) and clashes between rival cult (52.00%) as causes of human insecurity in the study area. Perception of the effect of human insecurity on agricultural enterprises showed that loss of human lives ranked 1st (= 4.78), human insecurity led to loss of house and properties ranked (= 4.52), human insecurity leads to reduced crop yield/productivity due to theft or burning of farm produce ranked (= 4.48). Among mitigating strategies adopted, provision of small-scale credit facilities was ranked 1st (= 4.21) and provision of health facilities for the stakeholders ranked 2nd (= 4.18) while counseling services for the stakeholders ranked 3rd ( = 3.96). There is a significant relationship between perception of the effect of human insecurity on agricultural enterprises of the rural dwellers and agricultural enterprises practiced by the respondents. The study recommends that, government in collaboration with business owners and companies operating in these crisis prone areas should engage stakeholders (community leaders, youth leaders and other leaders of Community Based Organizations) in a town hall meeting and collectively come up with lasting solutions to human insecurity in the study area.

Transformation of Urban–Rural Relationships in the Context of Global Challenges

AbstractThis article updates and further develops the reflections of “Urbanization and Sustainability after the COVID-19 Pandemic” (Motta 2020). It is now even more urgent to focus on the urban–rural relationships that are being modified by the pandemic, climate change, and the impacts of conflicts, causing serious human insecurities and increasing precarious circumstances worldwide. The fast-changing situation and recurrent emergencies confirm the need for a new urban development approach, related to the specificities of the surrounding environment and based on the revival of towns and settlements spread over territories. This should function as a complementary tool to mitigate urbanization flows and urban–rural gaps, identifying new relationships. This requires the review of current urban paradigms, which are no longer able to respond to modified conditions and demands with an innovative vision. This is actualized on the basis of the principles of the social quality theory (SQT) and approach (SQA) and their emphasis on processes in and between the four relevant dimensions of societal life. In the past decade, these principles have been developed tentatively in working papers about sustainability and urban issues from a social quality perspective.

Impact of militancy on human security in Niger delta: Evidence from food and environmental security

The inability to maximise the potential of nature in the Niger Delta; air pollution, unsafe drinking water, low yield of crops due to endless oil spillage and a threatened aquatic system mostly occasioned by the menace of Niger Delta militancy constitute threats to threats, fear and lack to individual wellbeing in the Delta region and this negates the narrative of human security. It is against this background, that this study leverages on relative deprivation theory to investigate the impact of food and environmental security on human security Niger Delta, Nigeria. The study measured human security with food security and environmental security. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and primary data were collected with the aid of questionnaire designed in a four Likert scale manner to extract information from purposively selected flashpoints of militancy in the Niger Delta region, Nigeria. The population of the study is 5,378,500. This study engages Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) scientific sampling technique determination which recommends a sample size of 384 for a population above a million. Ordinary least square regression analysis was employed to analyse the data. The study revealed that food and environmental security have negative significant impact on human security in the Niger Delta region, Nigeria. Based on these findings, the study concludes that a threatened food and environmental security predict human insecurity in Niger Delta, Nigeria. If food security and environmental security is assured and improved, then human security will be on a strong footing in the volatile region of Niger Delta. The study recommends that Federal and State Government should spend more on these critical platforms that explains human security by focusing on good governance as against militarization of the Niger Delta region.

Becoming flood insecure: Lessons from village level experiences in Tana Delta, Kenya

Floods affect the human security conditions of floodplain residents. The aim of this paper is to explore how residents of the Tana River Delta in Kenya become flood insecure. This paper utilises assemblage theory, particularly the principles of rhizomatic multiplicity to explain the concept of becoming flood insecure. It combines these rhizomatic multiplicity principles with disruptions to the pillars of human security which are becoming afraid, becoming wanting and becoming undignified and their composite conditions of human insecurity to create an analytical framework with which to understand becoming flood insecure. The study sources its data from Focus Group Discussions in 10 sampled villages in the Tana River Delta. The results reveal that becoming flood insecure is a rhizomatic multiplicity and that the pillars and conditions of human security that comprise it are heterogenous and interconnected. The results reveal the conditions of human insecurity in the Tana River Delta as personal, food, water, fuel, housing, health, environment, and political. They also reveal that while children become more flood insecure, they are also the most adaptive. Additionally, the results show that there are transitory conditions of human insecurity, food, housing health, to which people attempt to find local solutions and redundant conditions of human insecurity, political, health, water, personal and environment, to which people cannot find local solutions and public action is required.

Insecurity and Performance of Business Activities in Anambra State, Nigeria

Insecurity constitutes nuisance to human lives and properties, impedes business activities, inculcate phobia in both local and foreign investors. Consequent upon this, human security has been encroached due to incessant insecurity menace besetting the peaceful co-existence of individuals residing within and outside the vicinity of Anambra State, Nigeria. This scenario has consistently created vacuum for chaos and disorderliness. In the light of the above, this paper focuses attention on insecurity and performance of business activities in Anambra State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to ascertain the factors militating against the successful operation of business activities in Anambra State, and also to determine the type of relationship that exists between the independent variable (human security) and dependent variable (market share). The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative research design method (triangulation) with sixty eight participants randomly selected. The participants comprised of experienced entrepreneurs from Onitsha, Nnewi and Awka with not less than ten years of experience in their diverse businesses. Structured questionnaire and in-depth interview were simultaneously utilized to elicit reliable, timely and valuable information from the respondents respectively. The structured questionnaire was administered to sixty two (62) respondents while six respondents were orally interviewed. Data generated from structured questionnaire was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient which is an inferential statistical tool while data elicited from in-depth interview was thematically analyzed. The results revealed that human security had a statistically positive significant relationship with market share. This implies that a proportionate increase in human security will attract commensurate increase in market share and vice versa. The in-depth interview conducted disclosed that family responsibilities, difficulties in raising children, sit-at-home syndrome, insecurity, high cost of goods, low turnover, forced migration, and insufficient capital are the major factors besetting the performance of business activities in Anambra State, Nigeria. In view of the findings above, we recommended serious government intervention to cushion the effect of human insecurity by adopting a regulatory framework that will usher defaulters to befitting penalty in order to inculcate sustainable virtues in them. That is why, unequivocally speaking, protection of human rights, dignity, and integrity need to be the greatest concern of government at all levels because life has no duplicate. Also, government at all levels need to pay close attention to sit-at-home syndrome and high cost of goods in the market as majority of the entrepreneurs in Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi respectively lean on daily income for the provision of basic necessities of life.

NATO looks south: priorities, strategies and instruments

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the way the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) addresses security challenges on its southern flank. At the Madrid summit (29-30 June 2022), the allies acknowledged the importance of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Sahel and the Middle East as a space of global geopolitical competition and an area with worrying levels of human insecurity and foci of instability. NATO could play a more constructive role on its southern flank by: 1) improving stabilisation and crisis management approaches and instruments; 2) finding ways to transform partners from security consumers to security providers; 3) enhancing NATO maritime capabilities and partnerships; 4) strengthening coordination and cooperation with the European Union (EU) and, when possible, with other regional organisations; 5) exploring common ground among NATO’s Mediterranean members; 6) increasing anticipation capacities, including by cultivating a more structured relationship with political, economic and social experts and research centres.

The Effects of Genetics and Psychosocial Stress on War-Affected Youth

The atrocities of war have a negative impact on those who must witness them. Syrian refugees have gone to Jordan to escape the civil war in their home country. The genetics of the youngest among the refugees plays a role in the development of mental illnesses. The importance of studying the effect of psychosocial stress and genetics on war-affected youth can be seen today when many children are being uprooted from their homes in Ukraine. This study was done using a case-control study. To get DNA, a gender-balanced group of 417 Syrian refugees and 306 Jodanian non-refugees provided buccal samples to the researchers. The male participants were exposed to more traumatic events, but the female participants had higher rates of perceived stress, insecurity, depression and anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. The serotonin transporter 5-HTTLPR and the protein-coding gene COMT were found to play a role in the response to trauma. 5-HTTLPR was found to be associated with human insecurity and perceived stress. COMT was found to be associated with CRIES-8, also known as PTSD. The results of this study can be used in many ways. They can be used to know which mental health resources should be allocated to those uprooted by wars and the results can be used to advance the study of human behavior.

A Murderous Plague: State Hypermasculinity, covid-19, and Atrocity Prevention in the Philippines

Abstract When and why do state responses to crises such as the covid-19 pandemic embody hypermasculinity? How does state hypermasculinity contribute to mortality during a pandemic? This article examines state hypermasculinity as a main atrocity risk factor and as a root cause of preventable deaths arising from failures in pandemic response. It focuses on the case of the Philippines under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte to build on feminist scholarship examining gender, crises, and the rise of ‘strongman’ leaders globally. It argues that a state’s predisposition for violence and atrocity crimes renders disease outbreaks more deadly. Significant loss of life and livelihoods during the pandemic are logical outcomes of state structures and responses that combine militarised security, paternalism, and domination of feminised ‘others’. Crucially, the implications of state hypermasculinity extend beyond pandemics as it is clearly emerging as a vector for compounded human insecurities at a time of multiple and overlapping crises.

COVID-19 Pandemic, policy-intensified Economic Crisis and Declining State Control in Nigeria

ABSTRACT COVID-19 pandemic has undermined the functionality of formal and informal economies globally, with developing countries suffering the social, political and economic effects of the pandemic. Economic downturns in the global south, including Nigeria, have given rise to declining state control in the face of human insecurity. This study, hinging on the neoliberal political economy thesis, examines the economic crisis and declining state control the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown engendered in managing the security situation in Nigeria. The study, utilizing the dominant qualitative methods, comprising interviews, focus group discussions, and documented evidence, highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown disproportionately affected the people, mainly poor people, households and communities in different parts of the country. The failure of the government to engage in an effective social protection policy generated discontent and led to criminal activities undermining security in Nigeria. The study concludes that the insecurity and economic crisis the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown engendered have weakened the state’s authority in Nigeria. The study suggests that engaging effective social protection policy presents an opportunity for mitigating security challenges to bring about socioeconomic stability in Nigeria.

Regional security complex: The Boko Haram menace and socio-economic development crises in the Sahel

ABSTRACT Regional development and stability in many parts of the Global South is threatened by violent conflicts – deep-rooted in complex ‘geo-politico-economic challenges’. This reflects the causality of Boko Haram threats and security-development crises in the Sahel. To extrapolate the patterns of insecurity and their effects on peace and development in the region, a thematic analysis of empirical and secondary data was conducted using the Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT). This expatiates on the role of actors, geopolitics (external) interventions, the environment, and resources in the Sahel’s complex security-development milieu. The study deduced that escalation of conflicts and negative consequences of interventions exacerbate states’ fragility and human insecurity, amidst displacement, destruction, and impairment of livelihoods and regional resilience capacities across the Sahel. Therefore, it recommends a holistic regional security-development mechanism, that is evidence-based, to sustainably address the root causes and effects of Sahel’s insecurity and socio-economic predicaments.