Publication

The concept of human security represents a shift in focus -- i.e., away from the security of the state to that of the individual. This shift, by the way, is practical rather than ideological in nature. It reflects the growing role of intrastate and civil wars, disease, and poverty as the primary threats to individual human beings. As this analysis points out, however, the shifting security landscape and the new concept used to bound it have not brought about a fundamental paradigm shift in international security policy. That may or may not happen, but in either case the concept of human security will most likely remain a politically relevant one well into the future.