CONCEPT OF SECURITY

Introduction

Security is a fragile and significant issue which

conveys different meanings to scholars, analysts,
policy makers and organizations across the globe.
Fundamentally, security has to do with the presence of
peace, safety, gladness and the protection of human
and physical resources or absence of crisis or threats
to human dignity, all of which facilitate development
and progress of any human society. The concept of
security has become a preoccupation for the decades
following the end of the Cold War which could also be
referred to as landmark for diverse school of thought
with security studies. Security, as a concept, has
diverse dimensions. It is aptly used in psychology,
finance, information access, public safety, defense and
military matters.
The meaning of security is ambiguous fas its
scope continues to expand every day. The elastic
nature of the concept of security attracts different
meanings and different views. Security is an important
concept that every human person desires and it has
one or two meanings though it defies precise definition.
This account for the position of Barry Buzan (1991)
who describes security as an ambiguous and
multidimensional concept in which military factors
have attracted misappropriate attention. This chapter
therefore examines the concept of security taking into
cognizance diverse views of different scholars. It
equally covers the notion of national security,
international security and the concept of human
security, which is the basis of all other forms of
security.

What is Security?

Security has to do with the process connected with

assuaging any kind of threat to people and their
precious values. This is why Buzan asserts that
security is about freedom from threat and ability of
states to maintain independent identity and their
functional integrity against forces of change, which
they see as hostile while its bottom line is survival
(Bodunde, et.al,. 2014). From the foregoing, security is
generally agreed to be about feeling of being safe from
harm, fear, anxiety, oppression, danger, poverty,
defence, protection and preservation of core values and
threat to those values.
William (2008) equally submits that security is
most commonly associated with the alleviation of
threats to cherish values, especially those threats
which threaten the survival of a particular reference
object. In line with the above, Imobighe states that:
Security has to do with freedom from danger or
threats to a nation's ability to protect and develop
itself, promote its cherished values and legitimate
interest and enhance the well-being of its people. Thus
internal security could be seen as the freedom from or
the absence of those tendencies, which could
undermine internal cohesion, and the corporate
existence of a country and its ability to maintain its
vital institutions for the promotion of its core values
and socio-political and economic objectives, as well as
meet the legitimate aspirations of the people (Ogaba.
2010: 35-36).
It could therefore be inferred that security, be it
classical, state-centric and traditionalist or non-
traditionalist, is all about protection of assets including
living and non-living resources against loss or damage.
There are two major Schools of Thought to the
concept of security – Traditional and Non – Traditional.
Traditional School of Thought favours the maintenance
of the Cold War conception of security. This school of
thought defines security in this sense to mean safety
from danger and from external attack or infiltration.
Traditional security paradigm is a realist construct of
security in which the referent object is the state
(Abolurin, 2010). It equates security with peace and
prevention of conflict through military means i.e.
deterrence policies, non-offensive defence and the like.
This is why Walt defines security as a study of threat,
use, and control of military force (Walt, 1991). It
explores the situations that make use of force more
likely, the ways the use of force affects individuals,
states, societies and the specific policies that states
employ in order to prevent or engage in war. This
school of thought is strongly tied to the military and
that is why Barry Buzan regards security as
underdeveloped and needed to be rehabilitated.
Nwolise opines that the Cold War period gave the high
level domination to the conventional security doctrine
to the extent that security rest on the believe that only
a military system can efficiently deter attack and
threat of force (Nwolise, 2008). This also tallies with
Ken Booth position when he asserts that:
One of the themes of the new thinking is the idea
that security policy should have political
accommodation as a primary and persistent aim. The
negative effect of identifying security almost
exclusively with military was evident throughout the
cold war. This approach can be described as strategic
reductionism which is conceiving security in a technical
and mechanistic military way as manifested in an
obsession with military balance and the use of state-
of-the-art technology (Nwolise, 2008: 349)
The second school of thought on the
conceptualization of security is non-traditional school.
This school attempts to widen and deepen the
definition of security. It argues that other issues like
environment, political, economic and social threats
endanger the lives and properties of individual rather
than the concentration on the survival of the state. It
does implies that a predominantly military definition
does not appreciate the fact that the greatest threat to
state survival may not be military but environmental,
health, political, social and economic. The
contemporary ideas and opinion about security are all-
encompassing as rightly observes by Sola Ogunsanwo:
Security is more than military security or
security from external attacks. For many inhabitants in
the developing countries, security is conceived as the
basic level of the struggle for survival. Therefore, in
order to provide an integrated African Security
Assessment, the non – military dimension of security
should be added. Henceforth, security as a concept
should be applied in its broader sense to include
economic security, social security, environmental
security, food security, equality of life security and
technological security (Ochoche, 1997: 27).
 However, security in this sense is human
emancipation oriented. It means that people/citizens
must be liberated from those challenges, difficulties
and constraints that may prevent them from carrying
out what freely they would choose to do which
includes epidemics, poverty, oppression, poor
education, crises and so on. Today, politics, ecological
issues, economic and demographic issues which are
non-military tend to pose serious threats to people's
security. This gives birth to the concept of human
security which will be discussed subsequently in this
chapter.
Barry Buzan gives a theoretical insight to the
understanding of the concept of security and he
identifies three levels of analysis which are the
individual level, national level and international level.
He is of the opinion that individual security which
other scholars called personal security involves those
values people seek to secure which include life, health,
status, freedom and wealth (Buzan, 1991). Some of the
threats which individual person endeavor to secure
themselves from is what is referred to as social
security. This captures physical threat, economic threat
and human rights abuse. Examples of these are pain,
injury, death, seizure and destruction of properties,
inaccessibility to work or resources for human
sustenance, injustice, unjust imprisonment and the
denial of normal civil liberties as well as threats to
human dignity. The other two levels of Buzan's
analysis; national and international levels of security
are discussed as national security and international
security.

2. Human Security

The concept of human security emanates from the

conventional security studies which centers on the
security of the state. Its focus is individuals and its
ultimate end point is the protection of people from
traditional and non-traditional threats. Centre to this
concept is the belief that human security deprivations
can undercut peace and stability within and among
states. The Commission on Human Security (CHS) in
one of its work defines human security as:
 The ability to protect the vital core of all human lives
in such a way that it enhances human freedoms and human
fulfillment. Human security means protecting fundamental
freedoms that are the essence of life. It means protecting
people from serious and persistent threats and situations. It
means using processes that build on people's strengths and
aspirations. It means creating political, social,
environmental, economic, military and cultural systems that
together give people the building blocks of survival,
livelihood and dignity (Adedoyin, 2013: 125).

It is important to state that human security covers

every area of human needs. This is why it serves as
the basis of all forms and categories of security.
Hubert gives the importance of the concept when he
asserts that:
In essence, human security means safety of people
from violent and non - violent threat. It is a condition of being
characterized by freedom from pervasive threat to people's
rights, their ability or even their lives. It is an alternative
way of seeing the world taking people as its point of
reference rather than focusing exclusively on the security of
the territory or government. Like other security concept -
national security, economic security, and food security - it is
all about protection (Hubert, 1999:3).
Since, human security gives primacy to human
beings and their complex social and economic
interactions, it derives its convincing quality from the
fact that is based on the global concern and threats to
human security are no longer secluded issues. It is
pertinent to state that threat to human security are
very easy to manage if preventive measures are taken
at appropriate time before it advances to devastating
state.

The Seven Dimensions of Human Security

Human security is characterized by seven [7]

dimensions of security. These are:

i. Economic Security
 This type of security requires an assured basic income
for individuals mostly from productive and
remunerative work or from a publicly financed safety
net. In this sense, only about a quarter of the world's
people are presently economically secure and the
economic security problem may be more serious in
third world countries. Major threats of economic
security are poverty, unemployment, indebtedness,
lack of income. It germane to state that aforementioned
threats constitute pertinent factors causing political
tensions and other forms of violence in the developing
countries.

ii. Food Security

Food security demands that all people at all times

have both physical and economic access to basic food.
Major threats to this include hunger, famines and the
lack of physical and economic access to basic food.
Though United Nations maintain that the overall
availability of food is not a problem; rather the problem
often is the poor distribution of food and lack of
money/purchasing power. In the past, food security
problems have been dealt with at both national and
global levels. However, their impacts are limited.
According to UN, the key is to tackle the problems
relating to access to assets, work and assured income
(related to economic security).

iii. Health Security

This tends to guarantee a minimum protection from
diseases and unhealthy daily life. In less - developed
countries, the major causes of death traditionally were
infectious and diseases, Inadequate health care, new
and recurrent diseases including epidemics and
pandemics, poor nutrition and unsafe environment and
unsafe lifestyles; whereas in develop countries, the
major killers are diseases of the circulatory system.
However, lifestylerelated chronic diseases are leading
killers globally with 80 percent of deaths from chronic
diseases occurring in low- and middle-income
countries. In both developing and industrial countries,
threats to health security are usually greater for poor
people in local areas, particularly children. This is as a
result of poor or bad nutrition and inadequate access
to health services, clean water and other basic
necessities.
iv. Environmental Security
The primary goal of this is to protect people from the
short and long-term ravages of nature, man-made
threats in nature, and deterioration of the natural
environment. In the third world countries, lack of
access to clean water resources is one of the greatest
environmental threats while the major threats in
industrial countries are air pollution and global
warming which are caused by the emission of
greenhouse gases. Again, environmental degradation,
natural disasters and resource depletion are general
all over the world.

v. Personal Security

This is all about the protection of individuals and

people from physical violence either from the state or
outside the state. It could be from violent individuals,
sub-state actors and from domestic abuse. Hence, the
greater and the common threat to personal security
from the state (torture), other states (war), groups of
people (ethnic tension), individuals or gangs (crime),
industrial, workplace or traffic accidents. The security
threats and risks on persons and often families are
many and vary from place to place and also from time
to time. These include: theft, armed robbery, burglary,
food poisoning, electrocution, fire outbreak, home
accident and host of others.

vi. Community Security

Community security aims to protect people from the

loss of traditional relationships, values and from
sectarian and ethnic violence. Traditional communities,
particularly minority ethnic groups are often
threatened. About half of the world's states have
experienced some inter-ethnic rivalry. Threats to
community security are usually from the group
(oppressive practices), between groups (ethnic
violence), from dominant groups (e.g. indigenous
people's vulnerability). In 1993, the United Nations
declared the Year of Indigenous People to highlight the
continuing vulnerability of about 300 million aboriginal
people in seventy countries as they face a widening
spiral of violence. In Africa, many nation-states have
witnessed ethnic clashes, land and boundary clashes,
and intra - religious and inter - religious conflict all of
which constitute threats.

vii. Political Security

This embraces guarantee and protection of

fundamental human rights of citizenry. It is concerned
with whether people live in a society that honors their
basic freedoms. Some of threats attached to these are
political or state repression, including torture,
disappearance, human rights violations, detention and
imprisonment. The assessment of the Amnesty
International reveals that, political repression,
systematic torture, ill treatment, hostage taken and
kidnapping are still being practice in about One
Hundred and ten (110) countries. Human rights
violations are frequent during periods of political
unrest and by security agencies in the third world
countries (UNDP, 1994).

3. National Security

Nations of the world prioritize the safety of its

territorial integrity, resources and its entire citizenry.
This informs the belief that national security is the
preservation of independence and sovereignty of a
nation state. In reality, every country has a large
number of interests to protect. These interest put
together constitute the national interest which
originates from values, good governance and protection
of social and economic well-being of the entire
citizenry. Based on this, one may describe national
security as the protection and maintenance of national
interest of a state or nation. This corresponds with
Harold Brown's [US Secretary of Defense from 1977 to
1981] perception when he defines national security as
the ability to preserve the nation's physical integrity
and territory; to maintain its economic relations with
the rest of the world on reasonable terms; to preserve
it nature, institutions and governance from disruption
from outside and to control its borders (Abolurin, 2011,
Adedoyin, 2013).
Hence, national security has no universally
accepted definition but there are two schools of
thought to it - the old school [Traditional Security
Paradigm] and the new school [Contemporary
perspective]. The old school which is also referred to as
the realist school views national security from
militarist angle with emphasis on military response
and management of threat. Lippmann asserts that a
nation is secured when it does not have to resort to
war or threat of war to preserve its legitimate interest
(Lippmann, 1944). Corroborating this view,
Maniruzzaman sees national security as the protection
and preservation of the minimum core values of any
nation's political independence and territorial integrity
(Maniruzzaman, 1982). Orwa also defines national
security as comprising the protection of the national
interest, including national values, political and
economic ways of life against internal threat and
challenges (Orwa, 1984). In line with the above view,
Mandel defines national security as the pursuit of
psychological and physical safety which is largely the
responsibility of the national governments, to prevent
direct threats primarily from abroad endangering the
survival of these regimes, their citizenry or their ways
of life (Ngbale, 2011). Examples of old school writers
are Hans Morgenthan, Laswell, Walter Lippman and
host of others.
The new school has moved national security
beyond military realm to include non-military factors. It
maintains that old school conception of security cannot
capture modern day security threats like hunger,
unemployment, poverty, environmental humiliation and
so on. This informed McNamara when he cautions
that;
Any society that seeks to attain adequate
military security against the background of acute
paucity of food, population explosion, low level of
production, low per capital income, low technological
development, inadequate and insufficient public
utilities and chronic problem of unemployment has a
false sense of security (Nwolise, 2008: 350, Abolurin,
2011: 186).
This showcases the significance of contemporary
thinking about national security and this informed the
thinking of Nwolise when he postulates that:
A country may have the best armed forces in
terms of training and equipment, the most efficient
police force, the most efficient custom men, the most
active secret agents and best quality prisons, but yet
be the most insecure nation in the world as a result of
defense and security problems within bad
governments, alienated and suffering masses,
ignorance, hunger, unemployment or even activities
foreign residents or companies (Abolurin, 2011; 184).
Also, Obasanjo conceives national security as the
aggregate of the security interest of all individuals,
communities, ethnic groups and the entire political
entity (Obasanjo, 1999:1-3). Also, Lynn and Miller
describe it as the politics and policies governed by a
less narrow definition of security which is concerned
not only with military threats but with other problems
that threaten directly to degrade the quality of life of a
national community (Ngbale, 2011: 220). The
Reviewed Draft National Defence Policy (RDNDP)
conceptualizes national security as:
All-encompassing condition in which citizens can
live in freedom, peace and safety; participate fully in the
process of governance, enjoy the protection of fundamental
human rights; have access to resources and necessities of
life and inhabit in environment which is conducive to their
health and well-being (RDNDP, 2002:1)
To Professor Charles Maier of Harvard University,
national security is the capacity to control those
domestic and foreign conditions that the public opinion
of a given society believe are necessary for it to enjoy
its own self-determination or autonomy prosperity and
well-being (Maier in Nwaogu, 2013). From the
foregoing, national security can be seen as the totality
of a nation's effort to protect and preserve the state, its
institutions, lives and property and the well-being of its
entire citizenry. In sum, the thought on modern security
indicates that the concept goes beyond the defence of
the territory but also recognizes the various
components and institutions of state that have much
responsibility in ensuring security of a state since no
country will allow itself to suffer internal or external
risk. It is obvious that national security is not the sole
responsibility of the armed forces alone but also the
citizenry, Customs, Prison, Immigration, Police, Civil
Defense and other private internal security
organizations.

International Security

International security is described as the efforts and

measures taken by nations, regional and international
organizations to ensure mutual survival and safety
through the use of diplomacy and military actions.
According to Ogaba (2010), the concept of security at
the international level is built on the basis of state -
centric conception of security. International security is
therefore synonymous with a global political
circumstance which defining attribute is the
distribution of power in the international system.
International security is thus the national security
or state security in global arena. Buzan (2000) views
the study of international security as more than a
study of threat but also a study of which threats can
be tolerated and which demands immediate action. He
perceives the concept of security as not either power or
peace but something in between. United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) Report of 1994
defines international security as freedom from fear and
freedom from want. The report perceives that security
can only be assured from two points of views. First, is
the safety of the vulnerable people and groups in
numerous part of the world from violent conflicts
caused by interstate and intrastate crises and war.
The second view is the safety of the people from
poverty, hunger, unemployment and other kinds of
social, economic and political deprivations.
International security can also be called global security
and some dimensions which include; human,
environmental, national, transnational, and
transcultural security.
However, the concept of international security
actor has been protracted from individuals, groups,
nations, governmental and non-governmental
organizations. International organizations like United
Nations and other continental cum sub – regional
organizations are working assiduously to promote and
maintain world peace as it constitutes the cogent
objective of these organizations.

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