Today, the definition of security is very narrow. Peacebuilding and prevention do not get the investment that they should. Active conflict prevention policies and peaceful opposition are seen as naive at best, considered to be irrelevant in most cases by governments, despite well researched evidence to the contrary. (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world)
“Defence” and “Security” tend to be equated with military, policing and technological defence, i.e. weapons and weapons systems. Despite the huge financial and research investments in the development and sale of weapons, history has shown that these extremely expensive systems can exacerbate conflicts and contribute to regional tensions, rather than contributing to the security of all.
Ensuring the security of the population is an important duty of a governments who tend to interpret the term too narrowly. Indeed, most security risks don’t have short-term solutions since they stem from long-term underlying problems such as climate change, economic inequality and political exclusion. Potential physical threats do need to be addressed but the longer-term issues that create conflict are side-lined and ignored by the current focus on militarisation.
The organisation Rethinking Security provides a more comprehensive summary: (https://rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/faqs/#top) : “Real security exists when everyone can meet their basic needs; it is in the public interest. But the prevailing approach today is based on ‘national interests’, defined by the government, and skewed towards big business and a small social elite, rather than people in their communities. [...] Security strategy is decided by a small and exclusive group. Other voices are excluded, including those the strategy harms.”
Security takes a long time to achieve and there are no quick solutions. Achieving sustainable security takes cooperation, resources, and hard work. Every conflict is unique and requires different, appropriate and relevant solutions.
The exclusion or marginalisation of any part of a population can exacerbate tensions or lead to disenfranchisement and ultimately the failure of efforts made to achieve peace.
