• Adelman H., “From Refugees to Forced Migration: The UNHCR and Human Security” International Migration Review, 35[1], (2001).

Within the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), there has been a shift in the emphasis on the meaning of refugee protection. Protection of refugees is now primarily defined in terms of security and refugee operations rather than in terms of the legal asylum processes. The article by Adelman examines the significance of UNHCR placing the refugee issue within both the larger context of forced migration as well as within the context of human security. The paper clarifies and documents a current and general focus of forced migration that includes the internally displaced as well as refugees and offers a framework for comprehending and dealing with the refugee problem that has shifted focus to the security dimension.

• Bencomo C., “Investigation into Unlawful Use of Force in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Northern Israel,” October 4 through October 11, Human Rights Watch, (2000).

Human Rights Watch conducted a fact-finding investigation into the unlawful use of force against civilians by security and police forces in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, from October 4 through October 11. The organization found a pattern of repeated Israeli use of excessive lethal force during clashes between its security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in situations where demonstrators were unarmed and posed no threat of death or serious injury to the security forces or to others. In cases that Human Rights Watch investigated where gunfire by Palestinian security forces or armed protesters was a factor, use of lethal force by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was indiscriminate and not directed at the source of the threat, in violation of international law enforcement standards. In Israel, (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) the IDF had regularly shot rubber bullets and plastic-coated metal bullets as well as live ammunition in an excessive or indiscriminate manner. A particularly egregious example of such unlawful fire is the IDF's use of medium-caliber bullets against unarmed demonstrators in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and in some instances, such s the Netzarim Junction in the Gaza Strip, against medical personnel. These military weapons, which inflict massive trauma when striking flesh, are normally used to penetrate concrete and are not appropriate for crowd control.

Human Rights Watch also documented a pattern of IDF disregard for and targeting of Palestinian medical personnel and ambulances evacuating or treating injured civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) provides medical services. To date, one PRCS emergency medical technician has been killed by IDF fire, and ten injured. The use of live fire against medical personnel interferes with the prompt treatment of wounded, and may in some instances have resulted in additional deaths.

In addition to the pattern of IDF attacks on ambulances and medical personnel, Human Rights Watch also noted a disturbing trend of increased Palestinian and Israeli civilian attacks on ambulances and medical personnel. The attacks, Human Rights Watch investigated, took place in areas under IDF or police control, and therefore areas where Israeli security services bear the primary responsibility for law enforcement. We note, however, that in a number of instances in the West Bank and Gaza Strip Palestinian Authority security forces were also present in areas where clashes took place. In several cases these personnel failed in their law enforcement duties to prevent armed Palestinians from firing on the IDF from positions where civilians were present and thus endangered by the Israeli response. In other such circumstances Palestinian security personnel themselves opened fire. Human Rights Watch's findings that the Israeli security services have been responsible for the majority of serious human rights violations does not excuse the Palestinian security services' failure to consistently and fully uphold its law enforcement duty to protect civilian lives.

• Blanton S.L., “Instruments of Security or Tools of Repression? Arms, Imports and Human Rights Conditions in Developing Countries,” Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 36, No. 2, Pp. 233-44, (1999).

Many scholars have traditionally focused on arms configurations as a means of deterring, initiating, maintaining, or terminating international war. Indeed, based on the assumption that a coercive military response is required if security is to be preserved, arms are widely viewed as an instrument of defense from external threat. In the developing world, however, Blanton argues, internal threats are far more common. Yet the role of arms in facilitating domestic political violence has received far less scholarly attention. This article endeavors to expand upon both our understanding of arms as a source of conflict and our knowledge of the correlates of human rights repression. To this end, this study tests the relationship between the importation of arms and the repression of personal integrity rights. Employing a pooled time-series cross-sectional design, the patterns of arms acquisitions behavior and human rights violations are examined for developing countries for the years 1982 through 1992. The results indicate that arms imports by developing countries are linked to poor human rights conditions. Thus, arms acquisitions appear to contribute to repression by making violent political acts more feasible.

• Burke A., “Caught Between National and Human Security: Knowledge and Power in Post- crisis Asia,” Pacifica Review, 13(3), (2001).

Since the Asian political and economic crisis, traditional concepts and practices of security have come under increasing question. However, there is substantial political and institutional resistance to rethinking national security in favor of human security. This essay addresses recent proposals for a 'reconciliation' of traditional and human security and, while it sees some value in doing so, it also argues that there are important political and conceptual reasons why this may not be possible, or desirable. Crucial here is the way both Asian and Western security policies have combined external defense with repressive approaches to internal security and national integrity. By way of an analysis of the difficulties in transforming security practices in post-Soeharto Indonesia, the essay concludes that operationalizing human security will require a serious commitment to reforming security doctrines, pursuing long-term conflict resolution, and people-centered change to the rules and structure of the global economic system.

• Camilleri J., “Globalization of Insecurity: The Democracy Imperative,” International Journal on World Peace, Vol. 18, No. 4, Pp. 3-36, (2001).

The global condition of human security is one of heightened vulnerability, as the events of September 11 have demonstrated. Today, social change has global features; national boundaries are increasingly porous. It is increasingly difficult for nation-states to control their own economies. Many political issues are transnational. To address these issues, the global social order must be politically legitimated through democratic processes. This type of reform is particularly important for the components of the United Nations. Any project aimed at forging a new concept of international legitimacy will inevitably require a sustained dialogue and interaction among the world's civilizations.

• Campbell P. J. and Mahoney-Norris K. (eds), “Democratization and the Protection of Human Rights: Challenges and Contradictions,” Greenwood Pub Group, (1998).

Are the global trends toward democratization and neo-liberal economic development also providing enhanced protection for human rights? In this edited collection of theoretical essays and case studies, the contributors assess the often-glaring contradiction between democratization trends in developing countries in the face of continuing human rights violations.

The volume begins by asking whether we need to rethink our conceptualizations of democracy, human rights, and development, and particularly the causal relationships between these areas. An analysis of the changing nature of the international norms associated with these concepts illustrates some of the inherent contradictions. Next, an assessment of the status of women in the new democracies demonstrates the fallacy of assuming that all citizens progress equally, and underscores the necessity for including gender considerations and needs. Case studies based in Latin America and Africa examines further the relationships between democracy and human rights, with particular emphasis on the issue of consolidation in the future. The contributors conclude that democracy and development will only be sustainable with the active participation of civil society, especially nongovernmental groups. This collection will be important for students, scholars, and policy makers involved with issues of human rights and democratization in developing countries.

• Clay E. and Stokke O. (eds), “Food Aid and Human Security,” Portland, OR: Frank Cass, (2000).

Food aid and other assistance have increasingly been organized as part of efforts to assure human security in terms of livelihoods, food, health, a sustainable environment, personal and political security. However, to what extent is this multiplicity of goals realized in practice? To what extent do the modalities and institutional arrangements for aid permit them to be realized? It is on institutional questions, therefore, that this fresh examination of food aid focuses in particular.

• Cockell J.G., “Conceptualizing Peacebuilding: Human Security and Sustainable Peace” in Michael Pugh (ed.), Regeneration of War-torn Societies (2000).

One of the ultimate goals of conflict resolution is the process of peacebuilding. Peacebuilding is often referred to as the resolution of protracted conflicts that require deeper and more lasting interventions in order to sustain peace among parties. In this publication, John Cockell focuses conceptualizing the various dimensions of peacebuilding and emphasizes the dimension of human security in warn-torn societies. He also explores several strategies for sustaining long-term peace. Additionally, the editor of this publication, Michael Pugh, provides a great selection of articles in an attempt to capture the process of regenerating war-torn societies. The book includes chapters on international security assistance, restoring legal justice in the aftermath of conflict, national reconciliation in peacebuilding and a variety of case studies on the process of peacebuilding in the Trans-Caucasian region of Liberia and Eritrea.

• Cocklin C. and Keen M., “Urbanization in the Pacific: Environmental Change, Vulnerability and Human Security,” Environmental Conservation, 27[4], (2000).

Intuitively at least, we have a sense that environmental change has the potential to undermine human security. The degradation of resources can negatively affect the capacity of people to sustain their livelihoods. Accessibility to basic necessities such as food can be reduced by environmental change and there are widespread effects upon human health that can be linked directly to changes in the quality of the environment. Peoples’ sense of security can be influenced also when resource exploitation and environmental change have impacts upon local communities, cultural norms and traditions, and socio-political structures. In some acute cases, the insecurities that arise from environmental change may lead to violent conflict.

• Commission on Human Security: http://www.humansecurity-chs.org/

As a contribution to this effort, the Commission on Human Security (CHS) first met in New York in June 2001 and held its second meeting in Tokyo in December 2001. It is co-chaired by Mrs. Sadako Ogata, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Professor Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. It benefits from the participation of ten distinguished Commissioners from around the world. The goals of the CHS are to promote public understanding, engagement and support of human security and its underlying imperative. It also aim to develop the concept of human security as an operational tool for policy formulation and implementation to promote a concrete program of action in order to address critical and pervasive threats to human security.

• Congressional Quarterly Press: “World at Risk” A Global Issues Sourcebook, (2002).

World at Risk provides international coverage through an examination of current global issues. The book includes 30 entries on hot topics such as human rights, literacy and educational access, energy, terrorism, war crimes, and much more. Other relevant entries include a section on up-to-date research on the latest studies, regional summaries, statistics and other important documents related to findings and research. Illustrations, tables, appendices and an index are also provided. This ready reference is most useful for academics and for public and high school libraries and their patrons.

• Dagi I., “Human Rights, Foreign Policy and the Questions of Intervention,” Perception, Vol. 6, No. 2, (2001).

Since the emergence of the modern (European) international society of states with the treaty of Westphalia (1648), international relations have been based on the principle of sovereignty. Mutual recognition of the sovereign equality of states requires each state to refrain from intervention in the sovereign rights of the other. Yet, in the contemporary world of complex relationships, not only the scope and content of 'sovereign' rights of states but also non-intervention as a guiding principle of international relations have become debatable. The emergence of human rights as an international issue has played a significant role in bringing the conventional norms and principles of inter-state relations into debate. From a state-centric view, as will be explored in this article, the internationalization of human rights is regarded as a conflictive approach to international politics. But, in practice, the issues of human rights have been incorporated into the foreign policy-making of major Western governments. Also, at a theoretical level one can contend that the emerging role of human rights in international politics could not be justifiably rejected by a state-centric objection. This article questions the very foundations of such a conventional resistance, common particularly among developing nations, to the internationalization of human rights politics.

• Foreign Policy Bulletin, “OSCE Leaders Seek Balance Between Humanitarian Imperatives and Respect for National Sovereignty,” “Adopt Charter for European Security,” Foreign Policy Bulletin, Vol. 11, Nos. ½. (YEAR).

The Foreign Policy Bulletin provides various charters that were discussed and/or adopted on November 1999 in Istanbul, Turkey by the heads of states for member countries constituting the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). It includes various statements by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and U.S. President Bill Clinton. It also includes excerpts from remarks made by Secretary of State Madeline Albright and the OSCE’s Summit Declaration created on November 19, 1999 on European and global security issues and humanitarian interventions.

• Geisler C. and Sousa R.D., “From Refuge to Refugee: The African Case” Public Administration and Development, 21[2], (2001).

In 1994, the United Nations introduced the concept of human security, predicating it on the dual notion of safety from chronic threats of hunger, disease, and repression on the one hand, and protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in daily life on the other. Such thinking helped foster the notion of "environmental refugee" to describe a new insight into an old phenomenon: large numbers of the world's least secure people seeking refuge from insecure biophysical environments. Yet, it can be misleading to assume that reducing environmental insecurity will avail more human security and, by extension, result in fewer environmental refugees. Under certain circumstances, more environmental security can generate a category of environmental refugees little noticed by those who have popularized this term. This paper concerns itself with the significant threat caused to human populations by exclusionary conservation. We begin by characterizing the human insecurity linked to increasing environmental security via protected area conservation, as a variant of environmental refugeeism. Using a combination of land use change and case study approaches, we estimate the number of Africans experiencing this phenomenon. We then place environmental refugeeism in the context of recent economic development theory and suggest why "environmental refugees" are in double jeopardy. That is, they often undergo a series of dislocations resulting from development initiatives, one form of which is protected area greenlining. We conclude with a discussion of one possible remedy for policy administrators seeking expanded conservation and a reduction in human displacement.

• Graham D.T. and Poku N.K., (eds), “Migration, Globalization and Human Security,” London: Routledge, (2000).

This book looks at a range of security and human security issues related to the displacement of civilian populations. It describes how the tenuous existence of migrants can lead to a myriad of human security threats. Providing major theoretical analysis of recent migration trends and in-depth case studies, this book shows that a redefinition of the notion of human security is now needed. The book also tackles some of the most crucial issues in the field of human security in many areas of the world, including Polynesia, Burma, Thailand and Russia from various perspectives such as the geopolitics of sovereignty, the implications of global diasporas and human movements.

• Harvard University: Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hpcr/index.htm

The Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research is a research and policy program based at the Harvard School of Public Health in Cambridge, MA. The Program is engaged in research and advisory services on humanitarian operations and the protection of civilians in conflict areas. The Program advises organizations such as the United Nations, governments and non-governmental actors and focuses on the protection of vulnerable groups, conflict prevention, strategic planning for human security, and the role of information technology in emergency response. The Program was established in August 2000 in close cooperation with the Government of Switzerland and the United Nations.

The main objective of the Program is to promote a professional and innovative approach to research and policy making on humanitarian operations and the protection of civilians in times of war. The Program attempts to provide new and thoughtful insights into policy and academic debates that will enhance the capacity of governments, international organizations, civil society groups and the private sector to address all the dimensions of conflict situations that affect people in conflict areas.
The Program takes a multidisciplinary approach to addressing the humanitarian consequences of conflict situations as part of a new understanding of security and humanitarian requirements known as "human security". The Program promotes the development of adequate strategies to respond to humanitarian and security crises in a comprehensive manner, engaging both local and international actors in concerted efforts to minimize the impact of armed conflict on the civilian population. The Program’s fields of research cover various domains, including international law, international relations, political science, sociology, history and public health. A major sector of the Program’s activities is the impact of new information technologies on the work of governments and international organizations.

• Harvard University: Program on Human Security, Center for Basic Research in the Social Sciences http://www.cbrss.harvard.edu/programs/hsecurity.htm

The Program on Human Security is a highly ambitious interdisciplinary research initiative, which tackles an issue of increasing global concern: the inadequacy of our present formulation of "human security." The initiative combines the methodological strengths of public health, international relations, and statistical methodology to re-define human security and to provide more reliable methods of measuring it. Each discipline augments the expertise and resources of the others to offer a powerful set of results that no single field could provide alone. While political scientists in international relations are ideally suited to study the outbreak of war and statistical methodologists to provide the best tools for its measurement, public health scholars are unique in their proficiency for understanding the human costs of military conflict. Political scientists at Harvard's center for basic research in the social sciences have already provided the first valid forecasts of when war will occur. Now with accurate forecasting methods at their disposal, program scholars can now prepare the ground for more reliable research into strategies for the prevention of war. The outcome promises to have profound and far-reaching implications for the global movement in international public policy toward redefining human security.

• Helton A.C. and Voronina N., “Forced Displacement and Human Security in the Former Soviet Union,” (2000).

This book provides detailed discussion of all the relevant national and international instruments that may be invoked in cases of forced displacement. It's in-depth survey includes relevant laws and policies from all fifteen of the countries that emerged from the USSR, as well as conventions dealing with migrants and refugees concluded by such organizations as the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the ILO, the European Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The work of non-governmental organizations in the field is also taken into account.

• Higgins R., “To Save Succeeding Generations from the Scourge of War: the Role of the International Court of Justice,” Medicine, Conflict and Survival, Vol. 16, No. 1, Pp. 60-71, (2000).

The International Court of Justice is the judicial arm of the United Nations. Its provenance and role in keeping international peace and security is described. Its role in settling disputes between states and giving advice to the UN organs and specialized agencies is illustrated from a series of past cases where it has contributed to the maintenance or restoration of international peace and security. Possible limitations to its contributions, arising from the need for consent to its jurisdiction, and from the process of international law are discussed, and it is concluded that decisions under international law are for realization of values. Finally, its relationship with the UN Security Council is examined.

• Human Rights Watch, “Rwanda: The Search for Security and Human Rights Abuses,” Human Rights Watch, Vol.12, No.1. (2000).

Rwandan authorities count security as their first priority. They must, they say, do whatever is necessary to avoid another genocide like that, which preceded their coming to power. The Rwandan government has an army of over 50,000 troops, a national police force, thousands of communal police officers, additional thousands of Local Defense Force members, and citizen patrols that operate during the night in many communities. Many government employees, students, and other civilians have learned to shoot at "solidarity camps" and the authorities plan to have most of the population similarly trained. In the last three months, the government has called on Rwandans and some foreigners resident in Rwanda to make a special payment beyond ordinary taxes to help defray the high costs of "security." All of these forces, training programs, and financial contributions are meant to protect a small nation with a population of some seven million people.

Yet with all this focus on security, ordinary citizens are attacked and killed and others "disappear" without explanation. In some cases, the security forces have failed to protect citizens; in others, they have perpetrated the very abuses that contribute to the current atmosphere of insecurity in the country. Rwandans who disagree with government policies are likely to be counted among the "negative forces" that threaten national security. Among those so labeled, one important Tutsi leader was assassinated. Others fearing for their lives have fled Rwanda. Scores of ordinary citizens have been jailed without regard for due process and sometimes held incommunicado for months. Such abuses, long perpetrated against Hutu, now increasingly trouble Tutsi, particularly Tutsi survivors of genocide who express opposition to the government or to the dominant party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

• Institute for Human Security: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
http://fletcher.tufts.edu/humansecurity/index.html

The Institute for Human Security promotes cutting edge-research and education about the overlaps between humanitarianism, development, human rights, and conflict resolution. The Institute is resolutely interdisciplinary. All of its activities make a fundamental choice in favor of crossing academic and professional barriers.
The Institute seeks to bridge these gaps by making research on human security operationally relevant through education, conferences, and fellowships for practitioners. It collaborates closely with the “Alan Shawn Feinstein International Famine Center” at the School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and the Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR) at Fletcher University

• Joseph K., and Kucia C., (eds), “Stopping the Spread of Small Arms: International Initiatives,” British Am. Security Info Council, (1999).

Stopping the Spread of Small Arms: International Initiatives. A report of the seminar organized by the government of Canada and Norway in association with BASIC, 25 September 1998 (available in print only).

• Kardas S., “Humanitarian Intervention: The Evolution of the Idea and Practice,” Perceptions, Vol. 6, No. 2, Pp. 120-37, (2001).

In the post-Cold War era, the discussion on human rights and its promotion at the international level has proliferated, and this has coincided with a growing tendency to see a linkage between violations of human rights and international security. Drastic changes in international relations since the end of the Cold War have increased the probability of intervention with or without UN Security Council authorization. Thus, the debate about humanitarian intervention has been reheated, generating a considerable literature, besides the increasing state practice. This article is an attempt to comprehend and illuminate this controversial issue.

In doing so, after touching upon the definition of the concept, this article will discuss the evolution of the idea and practice of humanitarian intervention. By this means, the way in which the concept of humanitarian intervention has changed in accordance with the changing international milieu will be underlined. This article thus puts forward the view that humanitarian intervention is a reflection of a wider debate in international relations, namely cosmopolitanism vs. realism and, as such, it represents a shift from a statistical paradigm to growing cosmopolitanism.

• Kirk G. and Okazawa-Rey M., (eds), “Neoliberalism, Militarism and Armed Conflict,” Social Justice, Vol. 27, No. 4, 1-172, (2000).

The trend toward a neo-liberal global economy and the prevalence of militaries and militarism worldwide are often treated as separate, unrelated phenomena. Many activists and scholars who critique and challenge the negative effects of increasing global integration emphasize economic factors (e.g., Bales, 1999; Chossudovsky, 1997; Greider, 1997; Mander and Goldsmith, 1996; Sassen, 1998; Teeple, 1995). These include the fact that workers in one country are pitted against those of another as corporate managers seek to maximize profits, that systems of inequality based on gender, race, class, and nation are inherent in the international division of labor, that nation-states are cutting social welfare supports, that women and children experience super-exploitation especially in countries of the global South, and that there is increasing polarization of material wealth between rich and poor countries, as well as within richer countries. Critics also point to the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO), which require structural changes to make economies more profitable for private investors and to open markets for so-called free trade. Activists and scholars who are concerned primarily with militarism and demilitarization critique the prevalence of war or the threat of war to resolve transnational and intranational disputes (e.g., Reardon, 1996; Hague Appeal for Peace, 1999). They point to bloated military budgets that absorb resources needed for socially useful programs in many countries, to the fact that civilians make up the vast majority of the casualties of contemporary warfare, and that massive numbers of people are displaced--90% of them women and children -- as a result of wars. They note the profitability of the arms trade. They also emphasize connections between militarism and violence against women, and the incidence of human rights violations in military conflicts.

We are not suggesting that such analysts and commentators see no overlap between these two clusters of issues. However, in critiquing and challenging neoliberal economic integration, it is essential to take account of militarism as an intrinsic element. Conversely, in analyzing militarism, war, and arm conflict, it is also necessary to consider global economic forces and institutions. The goal of this special issue, then, is to show how neoliberalism and militarism are inextricably linked.

• Lammers E., “Refugees, Gender and Human Security: A Theoretical Introduction and Annotated Bibliography,” (1999).

The refugee does not exist: people who have been uprooted differ in personality, gender, age, ethnicity, religion and socioeconomic background and status. This book offers a completely new perspective, linking together the concepts of refugee, gender and human security. Although these concepts are crucial in understanding key aspects of the current situation, they have not previously been dealt with in one theoretical framework. In addition the book provides an annotated bibliography, which can be used as a guide to the extensive literature. It is timely and needed, and I am sure this book will stimulate many academics and practitioners to rethink their work.

• Makinda S. M., “Sovereignty and Global Security,” Security Dialogue, Vol. 29, Pp. 281-92, (1998).

There has been no serious analysis of the mutual relationship between sovereignty and security. But the one cannot be realized without the other. Sovereignty revolves around population, territory, status and a recognized authority. Security is defined as the presentation of a society's practices, rules, institutions and values. Sovereignty has evolved to fit changing circumstances since the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, where it resided with government more than with civil society. Security has had to relate to the changing interpretation of sovereignty. Since World War II, government has been principally associated with territory and the norm of non-intervention. But the concept of absolute sovereignty has shifted in the face of trans-frontier, global demands for democracy and respect for human rights. The UN is in a dilemma in its role of the guardian of sovereignty as defined in the Charter and in its practices -- not least in peace-keeping operations. This constrains attempts to reconstruct sovereignty.

• McRae R., and Hubert D., (eds), “Human Security and the New Diplomacy: Protecting People, Promoting Peace,” McGill-Queen’s Univ. Press, (2001).

In this publication, the editors emphasize the issue of international security in order to promote peace and humanitarian intervention. Many authors argue that this process of promoting human security must be strengthened through new means of international diplomacy and through international law to protect citizens in various countries and to promote peace. Case studies examine peacekeeping in Sierra Leone and post-conflict societies such as Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haiti and Guatemala. Chapters also cover a plethora of theoretical concepts and applications regarding policies for humanitarian intervention, the protection of children and civilians in war-situations and issues regarding the evolution of international humanitarian law. Finally, human security is viewed as a network for sustaining peaceful relationships in the new global civil society.

• McSherry, J. P., “Preserving Hegemony: National Security Doctrine in the post-Cold War Era,” NACLA Report on the Americas, Vol. 34, No. 3, Pp. 26-34, (2000).

The U.S. government is no longer supporting military subversion, coups and dictatorships in the name of anti-communism in Latin America. But it continues to strengthen military and security forces to buttress the neoliberal order. Essentially, Washington continues to pursue hegemony in Latin America, but through use of different instruments and strategies. In the post-cold war era, Washington’s earlier practices of promoting coups, contra style forces or dictatorships were at last left behind. But U.S. strategic, political and economic interests in Latin America endured, and the U.S. government’s commitment to democracy seemed dangerously thin. Hegemonic presumption and power politics continued to characterize U.S. security policy in the region, at times reproducing Cold War patterns. The United States has assumed the post-cold war role of hegemonic stabilizer of the “new world order.” While reaping the economic benefits of the globalized stage of free-market capitalism, Washington continues to pursue stability, order and social control in Latin America, through its bases and intelligence networks and through the local military-security forces it trains and finances. The new security paradigm sponsored by the Pentagon inserts Latin America militaries in strategic roles in state and society and bolsters their guardian capabilities.

• Nanda Ved P., “The Establishment of a Permanent International Criminal Court: Challenges Ahead,” Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 20 Pp. 413-28, (1998).

The Coalition for the Establishment of an International Criminal Court has brought together citizen groups and government agencies in support of an independent global judicial process. Goals include full cooperation by all states, extension of jurisdiction to cover core crimes, independence of the prosecutor and the Court from the Security Council, and acknowledgement of the Court as final authority on admissibility.

• Newman E. and Richmond O. P., “The United Nations and Human Security,” Palgrave Macmillan, (2001).

The book analyzes the changing peace and security challenges faced by the UN in an evolving international environment that is no longer solely characterized by states and inter-state security. The authors, who comprise both scholars and UN practitioners, cover a wide range of pressing current issues-including refugees, international tribunals, the promotion of democracy, ethics, regional organizations, humanitarian intervention, conflict prevention, and peacekeeping-that form a cutting-edge and controversial security agenda.

• Paris R., “Human Security: Paradigm Shift or Hot Air?” International Security, 26(2), (2001).

This article examines the contemporary concept of "human security" in international relations, which is intended to allow academics and policy makers to think about international security as something other than military defenses of territory or state interests by emphasizing the welfare of ordinary citizens. The author questions the usefulness of this new concept based on its general lack of guidelines, and on how expansive and vague the definition is, through exploration of what human security is supposed to be, the intentionally muddled and rhetorically lymphatic nature of human security studies, and finally considers ways the concept may contribute to international
relations and security studies despite its limitations.

• Parker C. S., “New Weapons for Old Problems: Conventional Proliferation and Military Effectiveness in Developing States,” International Security, Vol. 23, No. 4, 119-47, (1999).
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Christopher Parker of the University of Chicago seeks to clarify the consequences of increased arms sales to developing countries. Parker maintains that the critical issue is not the quantity of modern conventional weapons and technology transfers, but the ability of states to assimilate them effectively into their arsenals.

• Schechter M. G., (ed), “Future Multilateralism: the Political and Social Framework,” United Nations University Press, (1999).

The aim of this volume is to discuss the kinds of multilateralism that would be required to pursue at least part of the alternative projects of society, such as non-violent means for dealing with conflict; social equity; protection of the biosphere; diffusion of power among social groups and societies.

• Smillie I., “Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone, Diamonds, and Human Security,” Social Justice, Vol. 27, No.4, Pp. 24-31, (2000).

This study of the Sierra Leone diamond trade and its international connections demonstrates the centrality of diamonds to that country's brutal conflict. The RUF rebels exchange diamonds for arms and drugs in brazenly open smuggling operations through Liberia and other countries in the region. The report describes the diamond industry and the chain of intermediaries between miner and jeweler, as it existed at the beginning of 2000. Much has changed since then, in part because of this report and the work of many concerned individuals, organizations and governments.

• Stoett, P. J., “Human and Global Security: An Exploration of the Term,” (1999).

There is growing recognition that the post-Cold War era demands new conceptions of global and human security. In this highly readable account of international security issues, Peter Stoett begins by discussing four principal security threats: state violence, environmental degradation, population displacement, and globalization.
Employing a minimalist-maximalist framework - the minimalist interpretation applies to conventional and restricted legal definitions of a term, while the maximalist interpretation refers to broader conceptions of problems, often global in effect - Stoett argues that the acceptance of either perspective has profound conceptual and immediate praxiological implications. While the latter may tend to see security in terms of the state and governance within an international system, it is the former, more specific, interpretation that is suitable for policy analysis. Only varied understandings of the basic terms of global security, Stoett reasons, allow for widespread critical debate among both generalists and specialists.
The concluding chapter on globalization, with its attendant implications for the environment and population displacement, situates human and global security within the larger context of the historical process of expansionism. Human and Global Security provides a sophisticated, yet eminently readable account of contemporary security issues set against a backdrop of international relations theory. Its approach will appeal to a general audience as well as students and scholars.

• Suhrke A., “Human Security and the Interests of States,” Security Dialogue, Vol. 30, No.3 (1999).

Canada and Norway have promoted 'human security' as a theme of foreign policy. It is associated with the humanitarian, pre-eminently progressive, values of the 1990s and is useful as a distinctive mark of the foreign policies and strategies of smaller powers. It enables them to exert disproportionate influence on the events of the day in international regimes inside and outside the UN. 'Embedded humanitarianism' has become an established perspective of policy agendas. It is necessary to explore the relationship between 'human security' and 'human development' as interdependent processes. One key is the category of personal vulnerability, whether caused by war, natural disasters or poverty. The essence of human security should be to reduce vulnerability by developing norms regarding institutions as well as programs to prohibit weapons, promote human rights and protect the weakest. 'Vulnerability' may prove a useful starting point for developing 'human security' as a policy concept. Further clarification is needed to establish whether it is a vision or an instrument of foreign policy.

• Tehranian M., (ed.), “Worlds Apart: Human Security and Global Governance,” (1999).

This volume is the first in a series of books emerging out of a four-year collaborative international project on Human Security and Global Governance (HUGG). Since 1996, the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, in collaboration with other peace and policy research institutes, has engaged a growing number of peace scholars, policymakers, and community leaders in this project. In search of new solutions to the old and emerging problems of human insecurity, the project particularly focuses on those areas most neglected by the international community.

• Thomas C. and Wilkin, P., (eds.), “Globalization, Human Security, and the African Experience,” (1999).

Many have argued that the process of globalization is almost inevitable. In this sense, globalization may have several side effects. In this publication, various contributors examine the impacts (negative and positive) globalization might have on human security in various African countries. The first chapter, authored by Peter Wilkin, explains the concept of human security and class in a global economy. From a similar perspective, Ann Tickner explains the feminist perspective on security and global economy followed by chapters on community-related issues on economy and justice. Various case studies also examine the Rwanda genocide in 1994 (Michel Chossudovsky), the Horn of Africa (Mohamed Salih) and the security and state-society crises in Sierra Leone and Liberia (Max Sesay). The authors conclude the publication with a chapter by Caroline Thomas in an attempt to expand the debate on human security.

• Thomas C., “Global Governance, Development and Human Security: The Challenge of Poverty and Inequality,” (2000).

In this innovative new book, Caroline Thomas explores security from a human - rather than state - perspective. Thomas offers a conceptual approach to the subject, contextualizing the notion of human security within a framework of the evolving global economy. Through case studies of financial institutions, agriculture, democracy, health and home, she shows how individuals and communities can promote their own human security as governments fail to do so. To locate how people are involved in their own security, the author examines grassroots movements, NGOs and the informal economy. Throughout, Thomas emphasizes the fulfillment of human security rather than the pursuit of the national interest.

• Tow W. T., Thakur R. and Hyun I. T., (eds.), “Asia’s Emerging Regional Order: Reconciling Traditional and Human Security,” (2000).

This book focuses on the importance of emphasizing the social, economic and political well being of individuals, linking international security to the community and to the individual rather than restricting it to the purview of the state. The impact of the structural changes of recent years -- falling real incomes, labor migrations, declining public health, intensifying urban crime, privacy, etc. -- are among the subjects addressed. Government initiatives to foster positive cooperative interaction at all levels of society are called for and possible practical moves to this end are urged.

• United Nations, “Human development report,” UN Development Program, (2001).
http://www.undp.org/hdr2001/

Making new technologies work for human development technology networks are transforming the traditional map of development, expanding people's horizons and creating the potential to realize in a decade progress that required generations in the past.

• Weiss T. G., “The Politics of Humanitarian Ideas,” Security Dialogue, Vol. 31, No.1, Pp. 11- 23, (2000).

The ultimate worth of various humanitarian interventions requires examining means and consequences, which complicates facile judgments about success and failure. Although this essay concentrates on the veritable revolution in ends, a brief aside is in order because the results of this decade’s various experiments with military might on behalf of humanitarian goals have been decidedly mixed.

Because humanitarian action does not address fundamentally political problems, it is ambiguous. On the one hand, it can reduce suffering and save lives. On the other hand, the three-decade Sudanese civil war or the feeding of criminals mixed among Rwandan refugees both illustrate that humanitarianism can be counterproductive by freeing resources and fuelling armed conflict. Or worse yet, humanitarian action can be an alibi that impedes more vigorous responses. The appearance of ‘doing something’ in the face of a tragedy permits cheap moralizing but can prevent riskier political and military commitments to address the roots of a crisis. The well-fed dead in Bosnia prior to Dayton aptly illustrate that a humanitarian veneer can help make collective spinelessness more palatable than collective defense or security.

Although some generalizations about the recent past are contested, the post- Cold War era has certainly been characterized by considerable flux in the search for consensus about fundamental threats and interests. Judith Goldstein and Robert Keohane have demonstrated the importance of ideas to the foreign-policy process, particularly in ‘periods in which power relations are fluid and interests and strategies are unclear or lack consensus.’ To state that ideas and values are important in and of themselves does not mean that they are divorced from power and interests. Because humanitarian ideas explain what drives much of Western foreign and defense policy, it is useful to apply to intervention and sovereignty, in four ways, insights from literature about ideas in foreign policy: Ideas inform the definition of what constitutes interests; ideas are important in setting priorities; ideas are crucial in forming new political and bureaucratic coalitions; and ideas become embedded in institutions.

• Westing A. H., “Environmental Refugees: A Growing Category of Displaced Persons” Environmental Conservation, 19[3], (1992).

Many millions of persons have, in seemingly ever-increasing numbers in recent years, been involuntarily displaced from their habitual areas of residence-often far beyond the borders of their own countries. The duration of such displacement can be quiet brief, but in many instances becomes lengthy or even permanent. The displace persons (refugees) are often forced to subsist under conditions of incredible squalor in their new commonly more-or-less temporary, locations, dependent for their survival upon the largesse of the international community if not of the local inhabitants.

Human displacement is by no means a new phenomenon; but this seemingly intractable problem has been gaining ever-greater prominence in recent decades, especially in the Third World. Indeed, the numbers of displaced persons today are far greater than ever before in history. Outlined here are the nature and dimensions of the refugee problem, as it exists today, with possible approaches to its resolution and special reference to the increasing relevance of environmental considerations.