Editing Security (section)

== Overview ==

===Referent ===
A security [[referent]] is the focus of a security policy or discourse; for example, a referent may be a potential beneficiary (or victim) of a security policy or system.

Security referents may be persons or social groups, objects, institutions, ecosystems, or any other phenomenon vulnerable to unwanted change by the forces of its environment.<ref name=":1">Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver, and Jaap de Wilde, ''Security: A New Framework for Analysis'' (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998), p. 32</ref> The referent in question may combine many referents in the same way that, for example, a nation-state is composed of many individual citizens.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://rethinkingsecurityorguk.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/rethinking-security-a-discussion-paper.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://rethinkingsecurityorguk.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/rethinking-security-a-discussion-paper.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Rethinking Security: A discussion paper|last=Gee|first=D|date=2016|website=rethinkingsecurity.org.uk|publisher=Ammerdown Group|access-date=2017-12-17}}</ref>

=== Context ===
The security context is the relationships between a security referent and its environment.<ref name=":1" /> From this perspective, security and insecurity depend first on whether the environment is beneficial or hostile to the referent and also on how capable the referent is of responding to their environment in order to survive and thrive.<ref name=":2" />

=== Capabilities ===
The means by which a referent provides for security (or is provided for) vary widely. They include, for example:
* ''Coercive capabilities'', including the capacity to project coercive power into the environment (e.g., [[aircraft carrier|aircraft carriers]], [[handgun|handguns]], [[firearms]]);
* ''Protective systems'' (e.g., [[Lock (security device)|lock]], [[fence]], [[wall]], [[antivirus software]], [[Anti-aircraft warfare|air defence system]], [[armour]])
* ''Warning systems'' (e.g., alarm, [[radar]])
* ''Diplomatic and social action'' intended to prevent insecurity from developing (e.g. conflict prevention and transformation strategies); and
* ''Policy'' intended to develop the lasting economic, physical, ecological, and other conditions of security (e.g., [[Economics|economic]] reform, [[Ecology|ecological]] protection, [[Demilitarisation|progressive demilitarization]], [[militarization]]).

=== Effects ===
Any action intended to provide security may have multiple effects. An action may have a wide benefit, enhancing security for several or all security referents in the context; alternatively, the action may be effective only temporarily, benefit one referent at the expense of another, or be entirely ineffective or counterproductive.

=== Contested approaches ===
Approaches to security are contested and the subject of debate. For example, in debate about [[National security|national security strategies]], some argue that security depends principally on developing protective and coercive capabilities in order to protect the security referent in a hostile environment (and potentially to project that power into its environment, and dominate it to the point of [[Full-spectrum dominance|strategic supremacy]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45289|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930223537/http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45289|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 30, 2015|title=Joint Vision 2020 Emphasizes Full-spectrum Dominance|last=US, Department of Defense|date=2000|website=archive.defense.gov|language=en|access-date=2017-12-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmdfence/512/51202.htm|title=Re-thinking defence to meet new threats|last=House of Commons Defence Committee|date=2015|website=publications.parliament.uk|access-date=2017-12-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/building-a-british-military-fit-for-future-challenges-rather-than-past-conflicts|title=Building a British military fit for future challenges rather than past conflicts|last=General Sir Nicholas Houghton|date=2015|website=gov.uk|language=en|access-date=2017-12-17}}</ref> Others argue that security depends principally on building the conditions in which equitable relationships can develop, partly by reducing antagonism between actors, ensuring that fundamental needs can be met, and also ensuring that differences of interest can be negotiated effectively.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fcnl.org/updates/peace-through-shared-security-79|title=Peace Through Shared Security|last=FCNL|date=2015|access-date=2017-12-17|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Losing control : global security in the twenty-first century|last=Rogers|first=P|date=2010|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=9780745329376|edition=3rd|location=London|oclc=658007519
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