Citation

Lautensach AK. Australas. J. Hum. Secur. 2006; 2(3): 5.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Egan-Reid)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Efforts to achieve peace and security in the world's crisis areas have generally met with limited success at best. I propose that part of this failure derives not so much from technical or logistic problems but from conceptual inadequacies in our understanding of human security and its determinants. They lead to, for example, an excessive focus on 'freedom from needs' and 'freedom from wants'. I review the ontogeny of human security as a concept, beginning with the traditional interpretation of security as state security. Two conceptual problems with current models of human security are identified. Addressing them leads to a more constructive, expanded approach for analysing and ensuring human security, one that combines the advantages of being more scientific and more comprehensive. This expanded concept, which we call the 'Four Pillar Model', promises to help improve future chances of successful mitigation of insecurity and violent conflict.

Language: en