Editing Human security (section)

{{Short description|People-centric approach to national security}}
'''Human security''' is a paradigm for understanding global [[social vulnerability|vulnerabilities]] whose proponents challenge the traditional notion of [[national security]] through [[military security]] by arguing that the proper referent for security should be at the human rather than the national level. Human security reveals a people-centred and multi-disciplinary understanding of security which involves a number of research fields, including [[development studies]], [[international relations]], strategic studies, and [[human rights]]{{clarify|date=January 2017}}. The [[United Nations Development Programme]]'s 1994 [[Human Development Report]] is considered a milestone publication in the field of human security, with its argument that ensuring "[[freedom from want]]" and "[[freedom from fear]]" for all persons is the best path to tackle the problem of global insecurity.<ref name="ASCC2010">{{cite book |url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12782 |title=Advancing the Science of Climate Change |author=America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change, National Research Council |year=2010 |publisher=The National Academies Press|chapter= "Chapter 16. National and Human Security".|location=Washington, DC|chapter-url=http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12782&page=389|access-date=16 April 2012|page=389|quote=Footnote 1 - ''Human security is defined as freedom from violently conflict and physical want (see Khagram and Ali [2006] for one recent review and synthesis)''.|doi=10.17226/12782 |isbn=978-0-309-14588-6 }}</ref><ref name="UNDP 1994">United Nations Development Programme (1994): Human Development Report</ref>

Critics of the concept argue that its vagueness undermines its effectiveness, that it has become little more than a vehicle for activists wishing to promote certain causes, and that it does not help the research community understand what security means or help decision-makers to formulate good policies.<ref>For a comprehensive analysis of all definitions, critiques and counter-critiques, see Tadjbakhsh, Shahrbanou & Chenoy, Anuradha M. '' Human Security: Concepts and Implications'', London: Routledge, 2006</ref><ref name="Paris">Paris, Roland (2001): Human Security - Paradigm Shift or Hot Air? In: ''International Security'', Vol. 26, No. 2. 87–102.[http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~rparis/Paris.2001.IS.Human%20Security.pdf online]</ref> Alternatively, other scholars have argued that the concept of human security should be broadened to encompass military security: 'In other words, if this thing called 'human security' has the concept of 'the human' embedded at the heart of it, then let us address the question of the human condition directly. Thus understood, human security would no longer be the vague amorphous add-on to harder-edged areas of security such as military security or state security.'<ref>{{Cite book | year= 2014 | last1= James | first1= Paul | author-link1= Paul James (academic) | chapter= Human Security as a Left-Over of Military Security, or as Integral to the Human Condition | title= Human Security and Japan's Triple Disaster | editor= Paul Bacon and Christopher Hobson | chapter-url= https://www.academia.edu/7716521 | publisher= Routledge | location= London | page=73}}</ref>

In order for human security to challenge global inequalities, there has to be cooperation between a country's foreign policy and its approach to global health. However, the interest of the state has continued to overshadow the interest of the people. For instance, Canada's foreign policy, "three Ds", has been criticized for emphasizing defense more than development.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spiegel |first1=Jerry M. |last2=Huish |first2=Robert |title=Canadian foreign aid for global health: Human security opportunity lost |journal=Canadian Foreign Policy Journal |date=January 2009 |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=60–84 |doi=10.1080/11926422.2009.9673492 |s2cid=154963843 |language=en |issn=1192-6422}}</ref>