Monograph No 4: People, Poverty and Peace: Human Security in Southern Africa, Edited by Jakkie Cilliers and Hussein Solomon
Traditionally,
security has been concerned with understanding the causes of war and,
conversely, the conditions for peace. In part, fixation on the security
of the state and military strength reflected the concerns of the
protagonists of the Cold War - the United States and the Soviet Union,
and their respective allies. Confined to the straitjacket of bipolarity,
security was seen in such staid concepts as the balance of power,
deterrence, massive retaliation and flexible response. However, in a
post-Cold War environment, this Clausewitzian view of security is
increasingly attacked by new security thinking.
Ken Booth1
has argued that redefining security requires broadening the concept
both `horizontally and vertically`. Expanding the concept horizontally
involves creating an agenda that recognises security as being as
dependent on factors such as political democracy, human rights, social
and economic development, and environmental sustainability, as it is on
military stability. To expand the concept vertically involves
recognising that people should be the primary referent of security. In
this way, it becomes possible to identify threats to human security that
emerge at sub-national, national and transnational levels.
Southern Africa, in the post-Cold War, post-apartheid era, has
also been plagued by a variety of traditional and more contemporary
human security concerns. These range from mass migrations to disease;
from poverty to small-arms proliferation; from a lack of democracy to
the emergence of virulent ethnic nationalism; and from environmental
degradation to drug trafficking. In order to understand regional
security better and to foster more harmonious forms of interaction
between the states of Southern Africa, the Institute for Defence Policy
(IDP) has recently launched its Human Security Project (HSP). The
project aims to serve the following purposes:
-
to
conduct research and publish its results in Southern Africa on the
status of regional insecurity with a particular focus on the movement of
peoples and its associated effects as a source of regional insecurity;
-
to analyse the impact of such movement at local, national and especially at the regional level;
-
to
liaise with researchers, government and non-government agencies in
Southern Africa to exchange information, interpretation and results of
field work;
-
to
analyse the international comparative dimensions of population
movements, insecurity and regional integration, and to draw lessons for
Southern Africa;
-
to
provide policy options and propose practical measures to deal with the
problem of population movement and the associated regional insecurity in
Southern Africa;
-
to enhance the local research capacity within the region through an internship mechanism; and
-
to
liaise internationally to share the information with other regions and
with specific researchers, institutes and non-government actors with an
interest in population movement, regional insecurity and integration in
Southern Africa.
The
objective of the study would be to provide verifiable facts and policy
options to the national, regional and international communities on the
issue of population movement and the associated status of insecurity and
regional integration in Southern Africa, and on the socio-economic,
security, political and environmental consequences of such movements. By
doing so, the project in itself becomes a confidence-building measure
between countries in the region. By sharing in the research and
interacting with each other, participating Southern African scholars and
practitioners will be in a position to disseminate information and
influence policy formulation. Furthermore, the project will generate
collaborative mechanisms between the countries in the region and with
different sectors in each country.
This
initial monograph aims to provide an overview of some of the areas
which will be investigated under the auspices of the Human Security
Project.
In
the first article, Solomon and Cilliers identifies the various sources
of insecurity in Southern Africa - population growth, mass migrations,
lack of food security, disease, ethnocentric nationalism, small-arms
proliferation, the poor record of political pluralism and civil-military
relations, and a lack of economic growth. Each of these sources of
regional insecurity is, in turn, discussed and the question is posed
whether regional integration is the best way to solve these
transnational security threats.
The
issue of regional co-operation is once more raised in Swatuk`s
penetrating analysis of environmental security in Southern Africa. He
argues that many of the region`s problems stem in large part from the
nature of uneven and inconsistent capitalist development. Swatuk also
notes that, if the region is to move towards a sustainable and
prosperous future, it must move together, for eco-systems do not respect
any political boundaries. Questions of resource use and sustainability
must be approached within a regional framework.
The final article by Solomon investigates population movement as a
source of insecurity. Solomon looks at South Africa`s perceived debt
towards the region and expounds upon the ambiguity of international law
with regard to migration. He questions the efficacy of existing control
measures and concludes with proposed strategic responses to the problem.
In this, he argues for an interventionist approach based on
comprehensive bilateral agreements between South Africa and its various
neighbours.
Endnote
- K Booth, A Security Regime in Southern Africa: Theoretical Considerations, Southern African Perspectives, 30, 1994, p. 3.
