“Peace is not only an absolute necessity for us in India in order to progress and develop but also of paramount importance to the world.” Pt. Nehru at Columbia University (1949)

Peace

Peace really does not mean a state of mind or a condition with complete absence of disturbances or conflicts. In fact, complete absence of disturbances or conflicts in human world is impossible. We are trying to understand peace in societal, national and international contexts and not in the context where the humans do not exist. We may, therefore, define it as follows:

Peace is a social and political condition that ensures development of individuals, society and nation. It is a state of harmony characterized by the existence of healthy relationships. It is a condition related to the social or economic welfare and equality. It is also related to a working political order that serves true interests of all. In the context of intra-national and international relations, peace is not merely the absence of war or conflict, but also the presence of socio-cultural and economic understanding and unity.

Security

ssecurity refers to an absence of objective dangers, i.e. of security ‘threats’, ‘challenges’, ‘vulnerabilities ‘and ‘risks’, and of subjective fears or concerns,and to the perception thereof. From a realist perspective, objective security is achieved when the dangers posed by manifold threats, challenges, vulnerabilities and risks are avoided, prevented, managed,coped with, mitigated and adapted to by individuals,societal groups, the state or regional or global internationalorganizations. From a social constructivist approach,security is achieved once the perception andfears of security ‘threats’, ‘challenges’, ‘vulnerabilities’and ‘risks’ are allayed and overcome. While objectivefactors in the security perception are necessary, theyare not sufficient. Subjective factors influence securityperceptions. The perception of security dangers dependson the worldviews or traditions of the analyst

The reference points of security ranges from individual, institutional, regional, and national to international levels.

Relations between Peace and Security

Peace and security are inseparable. Combined together, it is a condition where individuals, institutions, regions, nations and the world move ahead without any threat. In this condition regions or nations are generally more stable domestically, likely to be democratically governed and respectful to human rights. They provide conducive environs for economic, social, or political advancement.

Peace and Security for Democracy and Development

There is a mutual relationship between democracy and development, and peace and security. In the absence of peace and security, democracy cannot function and development cannot take place. It is necessary to have peace for holding of elections. The democratic institutions cannot function efficiently if there is no peace. Citizen participation in the process of decision-making at different levels is possible only when the peace prevails. No development activity is possible if there is disturbance, violence or war.

On the other hand peace cannot be achieved in the absence of democracy and development. Democracy is also better placed for eliminating conditions that generate public dissatisfaction. It is so because democratic system provides equal opportunity to all citizens to participate in the process of governance and decision-making.

Development also promotes peace. It is through development that nations can ensure social and economic progress for the people and improve their quality of life. This ensures that people do not suffer from a sense of deprivation which leads them to indulge in protests and violent activities. When development activities continue in all the countries of a region, every country ensures that the peace is not disturbed, otherwise development will suffer. Development initiatives contribute to sustain peace, security and stability in the countries.

Traditional Views of Security   

When we talk about peace and security, we mostly relate it to its traditional notion that has been focused since ages on the danger of military or armed conflicts or threats. And the source of the danger has been a nation threatening to take or being suspected to take military action against the other. This endangers sovereignty independence and territorial integrity of the nation, and also the lives of its people.

Security has traditionally been understood in relation to state sovereignty and its territorial integrity, as expressed in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. Security policy in traditional method of tackling security is concerned with preventing war, which is called deterrence. This is normally achieved by maintaining balance of power, bilateral treaties & alliance building. Favorable balance of power with other countries is achieved by building up one’s defense capabilities, deploying additional forces on borders etc. In alliance building coalition of states based on national interests coordinate their actions to deter or defend against military attack. Alliances can change when national interests change. E.g. the US backed the Islamic militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, but later attacked them when Al Qaeda—a group of Islamic militants led by Osama bin Laden—launched terrorist strikes against America on 11 September 2001.

During the Cold War, within the framework of national security, there was a dual threat to state institutions by force (capabilities) and ideas (ideology). The state’s territory “can be threatened by seizure or damage, and the threats can come from within and outside of the state”

the emphasis on non-military means of seeking security is also found in the concept of ‘cooperative security’, which can be traced back to the early 1990s, particularly in the context of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (now Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe: OSCE). It is based on the idea that security must be based on common institutions and norms which states are expected to comply with.

Traditional view of security incorporates other forms of cooperation like disarmament, arms control, and confidence building. For example the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) banned the production and possession of these weapons. Arms control regulates the acquisition or development of weapons. The Anti-ballistic Missile (ABM) did allow both countries to deploy limited number of weapon systems and stopped them from producing large number of such systems

New Frontiers and Expansion of Economic Interests beyond National Boundaries

Technological advancement has enabled exploration and exploitation beyond state borders, security concerns have extended geographically and spatially to different maritime zones, outer space, the Arctic, Antarctica, and even cyber space. Those new security frontiers are also not immune from the influence of an expanded concept of security, posing challenges to the existing legal regimes governing extra-territorial and non-territorial activities.

The idea of international security, as distinct from national/state security, emerged with the development of a collective security system; League of Nations and United Nations. The establishment of the UN Security Council with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security has gradually fostered an acceptance among states of the idea that the security of the international community, not simply the security of one state, can be undermined.

Illustrative examples include the creation of International Seabed Authority for the regulation of mineral exploitation in the deep seabed, and the adoption of the Madrid Protocol to promote Antarctica as a natural reserve, both of which can be seen as cooperative legal responses to potential threats to the security of energy, the regime, and the environment. Various external factors, such as technological development, climate change, and global energy needs, might threaten the security of those international legal regimes

Human Security

Human security was defined then as having two main aspects: “It means safety from the constant threats of hunger, disease, crime and repression. It also means protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in the patterns of our daily lives—whether in our homes, in our jobs, in our communities or in our environment.

The new or non-traditional notion of peace and security is much broader and goes beyond military threats to include wide range of dangers and threats to human existence. This conceptualization includes not only regions and nations, but also individuals or communities and the human kind at large. This notion is primarily addressed to individuals. It is true that protection of people from foreign attacks is a necessary condition for peace and security, but it is not the “be all and end all”.

In fact, peace and security is to be seen as the precondition to socio-economic development and to the maintenance of human dignity. There has been a gradual move towards recognising more diverse issues in the areas of economic security, environmental security, energy and resource security, food security, bio-security, and health security. The expansion of security issues was formally acknowledged when state leaders gathered to meet at the Security Council in 1992 and referred to a range of non-military sources of instability in the economic, social, humanitarian and ecological fields as threats to international peace and security.

The new notion of peace and security also includes freedom of individuals from hunger, freedom from wants, diseases and epidemics, environmental degradation, exploitation and sub-human treatment. In this background the new notion of peace and security is based on threats beyond military attacks. These threats may be from terrorism, insurgency, and genocide, denial of human rights, health epidemics, narcotics trade and irrational use of natural resources.

Security Needs of a Country and Threats to the Security

The security needs of any country would be defined by its:

1.    Political values (Ideologies, universal values, such as freedom, democracy, respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law)

2.    Level of Economic Prosperity (Both in terms of natural resources, as well as human resources)

3. External Environment (At levels of immediate neighbourhood, Regional level as well as International community)

4.    Internal stability (Diversity and requirements of various internal stake holders based on geographic, ethnic, economic and political participation)

National security is a blend of political resilience and maturity, human resources, economic structure and capacity, technological competence, industrial base and availability of natural resources and also the military capabilities

Today the threats to Security can generally be attributed a combination of following challenges:

• Religious intolerance;
• Global Security Environment and Challenges
• War, violence, and the arms trade;
• Environmental degradation;
• Economic injustice;
• Rapid population growth;
• Patriarchy (cultures of domination, hierarchy, and control);
• Oppressive globalization.