Human Security
( วันที่ February 27, 2015 )
Prof.Dr.Likhit Dhiravegin
Fellow of the Royal Society
Homo sapiens have an instinct of self-preservation. The survival instinct exists in all living creatures, human beings and animals. Animals fight for food, for mating and for territorial occupation. Human beings in the state of nature duplicate what animals do but one distinctive feature is men can think more in abstract and would fight for things beyond the basic necessities for survival. Men can fight for ideology, religious belief and other things of abstract values. Of more importance, men are keen seeking for security starting from food security and personal safety. Men have to fight fierce animals and other tribes which might come to launch attacks and capture them for slavery and take over their lands and family members. Food and security of the tribe or the community are the two most important basic things men desire to feel secure. Food security and personal security or personal safety is the sine qua non of human beings’ survival in a state of nature where the law of the jungle reigned supreme.
For survival men who are social animals would live in groups for a number of reasons ranging from protecting themselves from other tribes as mentioned, for fighting fierce animals such as tigers, for team hunting for big animals such as deer and whale and for public project such as building a bridge over a canal which had to be built by collaborative efforts. Last but not least would be the psychological need to live in a group. No person would want to live in isolation, save for some religious reason. Solitary confinement was dreaded by prisoners. But one fact of life was scarcity of resources. When lived in a group, men would fight for what was necessary for survival and would resort to force to get what they wanted. When lived in groups, there would be conflicts over four elements, economic interest, social status, power and things of abstract values. Economic interest was who would get what, how much and why others did not get the same amount. Social status conflict took place when a social hierarchy was established. Power involved who would call the shots regarding the former two. Things of abstract value were concerned, for example, with protests against putting up structure which would block the view of beautiful scenery. When bickering took place and the contentious issues turned to violence, it might threaten the very survival of the tribe. Homo sapiens are equipped with the a priori thinking and a posteriori thinking would come up with a solution. The solution would be taken by the strongest man or group of men to put a stop to the conflicts and came up with a setup known as a political order to force the community to live in forced harmony. The symbiotic relationship was made possible by the punitive measures meted out by the group that controlled power who set up rules for the community. Once that happened a state was born. Those who exercised state power were known as government and the process of governing was referred to as governance.
A government is duty bound to provide security for the governed. This is to enjoy legitimacy and support by the people. Different political orders or political systems would have their peculiar characteristics. Time and space would not allow a lengthy discussion of the subject matter for it was outside of the focus of this paper. The focus of this essay is to discuss what members of a political order known as a nation or a country expect to have for their well beings. In a manner of speaking, human security which are concerned with food and personal safety, as touched upon, and other elements, to be subsequently discussed, are related to the concrete and abstract political demands. The concrete demands are the four basic needs whereas the abstract demands would involve rights and freedom, equality, human dignity, and the like.
The United Nations Development Programme or UNDP came up with seven items of Human Security including 1) Economic Security 2) Food Security 3) Health Security 4) Environmental Security 5) Personal Security 6) Community Security 7) Political Community. The seven items of Human Security as outlined by UNDP would incorporate all the areas where human beings desire to have as a guarantee for a good life and to meet the concrete and abstract demands entitled by citizens of a political system. A good political system should have the capacity to fulfill the seven demands or come close to the desirable levels of accommodation to the public demands. These seven items work as a guideline for government to formulate public policy. A brief discussion of the various items of Human Security is now in order.
1) Economic Security
Economic Security is taken as a very important element of a society. The economic system has to be such that it is able to produce enough for the society to live with a sense of security as to the economic system which promises to generate economic growth and business vibrancy. Indeed, economic system or the mode of production which can take various forms depending on the era and the progress of technology was once a factor which allowed Karl Marx to claim that it was the substructure which gave rise to the superstructures or other social organizations, political, social, culture, values and etc. The Cold War was a contention between two economic systems, capitalism and socialism. Before that it was the contention between fascism and capitalism ironically allied with socialism. The rest now is history.
But what the people want is economic security, a sense of feeling secure that the economic system under operation should be viable and sustainable. One would be reminded of the failure of the economic system which was instrumental for the 1930s depression. The collapse of banks and the run-away inflation was a nightmare for Europe. Indeed, it ushered in political problems and political leaders like Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo.
But of most importance is the existence of an economic system which will bring about equitable income distribution. The undesirable economic system is the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few while the majority of the people live in destitution. The most quoted phrase “rich country, poor people” is self-explanatory. The gap between the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural sector are indicators of bad economic system. Control on wealth by a few tycoons through a business conglomerate. The world’s wealth is not evenly distributed. Statistics has shown that poor and underdeveloped countries are exploited by a few rich business executives who were protested against even by their own people known as Occupy Wall Street.
Economic wealth is to be shared not to be concentrated in the hands of a few. This is the way to have peaceful co-existence. Short of a viable economy and equitable income distribution, GDP or Gross National Product may be generated at the expense of GDH or Gross National Happiness. This is a sine qua non for Human Security in economics.
2) Food Security
Food is an essential item for human beings’ survival. Apart from air and water, is a most needed for human beings to keep the body and soul together, food production is most significant since the birth of the human species. Food production technique has been devised to make certain that sufficient food supply can feed the people. The people dreaded famine because that would be a most dangerous prospect which might annihilate a large number of people. The potato famine in Ireland killed millions of people. Drought that brings about hunger and starvation has been registered in the history of humankind. Even today there existed starvation in areas where warfare rendered them not cultivatable. In a certain country the children suffered from malnutrition for lack of the necessary staple. This is a sad state of affairs which should not take place in this modern era where technology allows stable food production with high yield.
The sense of food insecurity was advanced by Thomas Malthus who believed that production of food grew at an arithmetic rate while population grew at a geometric rate which prompted fear of food scarcity leading to research for new technique of food production which was successful to an extent. But climate was hard to control and every now and then there would be famine, crop failure, pests and the like to destroy food production. The irony is that in some countries, food production was so successful that it led to a low price for food gain in accordance with the law of demand and supply that led to a policy of dumping the excess food into the ocean to stabilize the market price while other poverty stricken areas saw people starve to death. Farmers were hired not to grow too much by refraining from working too hard so that the price can be stabilized. What an irony of human beings who are supposed to have loving- compassion for fellow human beings but allowed greed to have overriding priority.
Food Security is for survival of humankind. Massive starvation is pathetic and before the last breath, it might lead to looting and plundering. This is unbecoming and pathetic for the noble creatures which were created in the image of God. Nations of the world have to collaborate to tackle this problem of dire consequences. Starved to death is undignified for the human species. The U.N. has been trying to ameliorate the problem but there is need for more collaborative effort to mitigate this aspect of human suffering.
3) Health Security
Men consist of body, mind and soul. The body has to be healthy so that the mind can function which would help nurture the soul. The enemy of human health is disease. Epidemic, pandemic and contagious diseases destroy quality of life. Moreover, a weak body would not allow one
Human Security( วันที่ February 27, 2015 ) Prof.Dr.Likhit DhiraveginFellow of the Royal Society Homo sapiens have an instinct of self-preservation. The survival instinct exists in all living creatures, human beings and animals. Animals fight for food, for mating and for territorial occupation. Human beings in the state of nature duplicate what animals do but one distinctive feature is men can think more in abstract and would fight for things beyond the basic necessities for survival. Men can fight for ideology, religious belief and other things of abstract values. Of more importance, men are keen seeking for security starting from food security and personal safety. Men have to fight fierce animals and other tribes which might come to launch attacks and capture them for slavery and take over their lands and family members. Food and security of the tribe or the community are the two most important basic things men desire to feel secure. Food security and personal security or personal safety is the sine qua non of human beings’ survival in a state of nature where the law of the jungle reigned supreme. For survival men who are social animals would live in groups for a number of reasons ranging from protecting themselves from other tribes as mentioned, for fighting fierce animals such as tigers, for team hunting for big animals such as deer and whale and for public project such as building a bridge over a canal which had to be built by collaborative efforts. Last but not least would be the psychological need to live in a group. No person would want to live in isolation, save for some religious reason. Solitary confinement was dreaded by prisoners. But one fact of life was scarcity of resources. When lived in a group, men would fight for what was necessary for survival and would resort to force to get what they wanted. When lived in groups, there would be conflicts over four elements, economic interest, social status, power and things of abstract values. Economic interest was who would get what, how much and why others did not get the same amount. Social status conflict took place when a social hierarchy was established. Power involved who would call the shots regarding the former two. Things of abstract value were concerned, for example, with protests against putting up structure which would block the view of beautiful scenery. When bickering took place and the contentious issues turned to violence, it might threaten the very survival of the tribe. Homo sapiens are equipped with the a priori thinking and a posteriori thinking would come up with a solution. The solution would be taken by the strongest man or group of men to put a stop to the conflicts and came up with a setup known as a political order to force the community to live in forced harmony. The symbiotic relationship was made possible by the punitive measures meted out by the group that controlled power who set up rules for the community. Once that happened a state was born. Those who exercised state power were known as government and the process of governing was referred to as governance. A government is duty bound to provide security for the governed. This is to enjoy legitimacy and support by the people. Different political orders or political systems would have their peculiar characteristics. Time and space would not allow a lengthy discussion of the subject matter for it was outside of the focus of this paper. The focus of this essay is to discuss what members of a political order known as a nation or a country expect to have for their well beings. In a manner of speaking, human security which are concerned with food and personal safety, as touched upon, and other elements, to be subsequently discussed, are related to the concrete and abstract political demands. The concrete demands are the four basic needs whereas the abstract demands would involve rights and freedom, equality, human dignity, and the like. The United Nations Development Programme or UNDP came up with seven items of Human Security including 1) Economic Security 2) Food Security 3) Health Security 4) Environmental Security 5) Personal Security 6) Community Security 7) Political Community. The seven items of Human Security as outlined by UNDP would incorporate all the areas where human beings desire to have as a guarantee for a good life and to meet the concrete and abstract demands entitled by citizens of a political system. A good political system should have the capacity to fulfill the seven demands or come close to the desirable levels of accommodation to the public demands. These seven items work as a guideline for government to formulate public policy. A brief discussion of the various items of Human Security is now in order.
1) Economic Security
Economic Security is taken as a very important element of a society. The economic system has to be such that it is able to produce enough for the society to live with a sense of security as to the economic system which promises to generate economic growth and business vibrancy. Indeed, economic system or the mode of production which can take various forms depending on the era and the progress of technology was once a factor which allowed Karl Marx to claim that it was the substructure which gave rise to the superstructures or other social organizations, political, social, culture, values and etc. The Cold War was a contention between two economic systems, capitalism and socialism. Before that it was the contention between fascism and capitalism ironically allied with socialism. The rest now is history.
But what the people want is economic security, a sense of feeling secure that the economic system under operation should be viable and sustainable. One would be reminded of the failure of the economic system which was instrumental for the 1930s depression. The collapse of banks and the run-away inflation was a nightmare for Europe. Indeed, it ushered in political problems and political leaders like Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo.
But of most importance is the existence of an economic system which will bring about equitable income distribution. The undesirable economic system is the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few while the majority of the people live in destitution. The most quoted phrase “rich country, poor people” is self-explanatory. The gap between the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural sector are indicators of bad economic system. Control on wealth by a few tycoons through a business conglomerate. The world’s wealth is not evenly distributed. Statistics has shown that poor and underdeveloped countries are exploited by a few rich business executives who were protested against even by their own people known as Occupy Wall Street.
Economic wealth is to be shared not to be concentrated in the hands of a few. This is the way to have peaceful co-existence. Short of a viable economy and equitable income distribution, GDP or Gross National Product may be generated at the expense of GDH or Gross National Happiness. This is a sine qua non for Human Security in economics.
2) Food Security
Food is an essential item for human beings’ survival. Apart from air and water, is a most needed for human beings to keep the body and soul together, food production is most significant since the birth of the human species. Food production technique has been devised to make certain that sufficient food supply can feed the people. The people dreaded famine because that would be a most dangerous prospect which might annihilate a large number of people. The potato famine in Ireland killed millions of people. Drought that brings about hunger and starvation has been registered in the history of humankind. Even today there existed starvation in areas where warfare rendered them not cultivatable. In a certain country the children suffered from malnutrition for lack of the necessary staple. This is a sad state of affairs which should not take place in this modern era where technology allows stable food production with high yield.
The sense of food insecurity was advanced by Thomas Malthus who believed that production of food grew at an arithmetic rate while population grew at a geometric rate which prompted fear of food scarcity leading to research for new technique of food production which was successful to an extent. But climate was hard to control and every now and then there would be famine, crop failure, pests and the like to destroy food production. The irony is that in some countries, food production was so successful that it led to a low price for food gain in accordance with the law of demand and supply that led to a policy of dumping the excess food into the ocean to stabilize the market price while other poverty stricken areas saw people starve to death. Farmers were hired not to grow too much by refraining from working too hard so that the price can be stabilized. What an irony of human beings who are supposed to have loving- compassion for fellow human beings but allowed greed to have overriding priority.
Food Security is for survival of humankind. Massive starvation is pathetic and before the last breath, it might lead to looting and plundering. This is unbecoming and pathetic for the noble creatures which were created in the image of God. Nations of the world have to collaborate to tackle this problem of dire consequences. Starved to death is undignified for the human species. The U.N. has been trying to ameliorate the problem but there is need for more collaborative effort to mitigate this aspect of human suffering.
3) Health Security
Men consist of body, mind and soul. The body has to be healthy so that the mind can function which would help nurture the soul. The enemy of human health is disease. Epidemic, pandemic and contagious diseases destroy quality of life. Moreover, a weak body would not allow one
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