Development of the idea of security

Acta Politica Polonica

Security is one of the most basic needs of human beings and has become one of the fundamental issues not only for people but also for the states. Security has emerged within the human history and it is one of the fundamental concepts of the discipline of international relations. Many studies have been carried out into the concept of security in the discipline of international relations and many definitions of this concept have been offered in the conceptual and theoretical framework of these studies. However, in the literature there is no one, commonly accepted definition of security. Since security has a dynamic structure, the concept of security has also changed cyclically and maintained its existence. Unique opportunities for the concept of security emerged particularly during and after the cold war, arousing interest of many disciplines and theorists. The concept of security, which continues its existence today, has changed and deepened, confronted with different threats. In our study, firstly, the concept of security will be defined and its analysis will be performed by associating it with humanity and its history. Afterwards, it will be explained how the change in the system transformed the concept of security as conceived in terms of the critical theories developed in the cold war period and later. nr 1/2022 (53) Concepts of security from a perspective of political science

Vojenské reflexie, 2021

People have been developing and continue to make enormous efforts, energy, and resources to ensure their safety since the beginning of their existence. The security and existence of people have been interconnected since time immemorial, and the history of mankind is, to a certain extent, also the history of the struggle for its security. That is also why the term security is one of those terms that we encounter almost daily and that we use very often throughout our lives. The term itself has several different meanings and dimensions, and with the development and ongoing changes in human society it is constantly gaining new ones. This is proof not only of the fact that the development of the security agenda is in constant progress, especially in the first two decades of the 21st century, but also that the approach of politicians, political scientists, academics, soldiers, security, and other experts to security is many times very different. Based on the above, the primary goal of the...

2017

This article presents the basic terminology for contemporary security concepts. It defines the concept of security itself and related terms such as security as a need and value, subjective and objective security, security as a process, external and internal security, subjectand object-related dimension of security, security analysis levels, security categories: political, military, economic, cultural and identity-based, environmental and societal, as well as security opportunities, challenges and threats. The terminology presented in this article is a synthesis of the author's reflections on theoretical foundations of security published in the monograph: Bezpieczeństwo. Zarys teorii (Security: A Theoretical Outline) published by the Academic Publishing House of the Pomeranian University in Słupsk.

Securitologia, 2015

The task to ensure security in contemporary world is a complicated political, scientifictechnological and socioeconomic problem. As the security itself is complicated, multifactor and hierarchized phenomen also its investigation has to be of an interdisciplinary character. The character of security environment, the character of security risks and threats and also the character of tools for their elimination are essentially changing. The basis to security of social subject consisted in arrangement of the conditions for their existence, to surviving in the present time and advancement into the future. Assurance of this condition means it provided ability to the social subjects to eliminated threats that are defined. In situations of asymmetrical security, the threats are not always clearly defined. They often consist of their own structure systems, in relationships and status the subjects of internationals relations. Asymmetrical of security, by our opinion, presents a discrepancy, unbalance, non-parity between subjects of the international security environment. The unbalance, discrepancy, non-parity has political, military, economic, law, social and societal dimensions.

Legal Studies, 2003

The pursuit of security as a matter of domestic policy stands high on the political agenda of many Western nations and is a booming area of private investment. This repays close attention to what is meant when the concept of security is invoked as a justification of public policy or private practice. This paper examines the various meanings and differing constructions of security as a negative or positive presence, as a material or symbolic good, as a public good or private service, and as a response to external or internal threats. It observes how the language of security is differentiated also according to local legal cultures and calls for comparative analysis of the meaning and usage of the term in different jurisdictions. It suggests some possible differences in the structural arrangements for the pursuit of security that arise from differing relationships among the state, private sector and civil society. And it concludes by mapping out some apparent variants on the public-pri...

2022

Contemporary security risks and threats initiate a new thinking about security and a new thinking about the content of the security agenda. The world is confronting both, by traditional (military) and contemporary (nonmilitary) threats today, which must be prevented and defeated collectively, by applying a mutual set of traditional and new approaches and methods. Such a situation directly raises the dilemma about the essential thinking of security in today's modern world. Therefore, the paper analysis about these security aspects is divided into two main directions. Regarding the first one, the focus is on the evolutionary nature of the security and its changing perceptions and theoretic understandings in different contexts, while in the second one, the focus is on the contemporary understanding of security in today's modern world, especially through the prism of increasingly promoted concepts of the environmental security, food security, and energy security.

I will argue that since the end of the Cold War, just like during the cold war, security is about defining politics, and Nazarbayev, who’s address to the world was a political gesture in a political publication, and brings back some of the security concepts of the Cold War as well as newer concerns which have risen since its end, thereby successfully integrating himself into the system of International Relations. I will try to demonstrate how president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been in power since before the USSR collapse, is using traditional concepts of security in a new political reality.