tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/human-security-4114/articlesHuman security – The Conversation2024-01-11T15:54:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2204732024-01-11T15:54:30Z2024-01-11T15:54:30ZSouth Africa’s new intelligence bill is meant to stem abuses – what’s good and bad about it<p>When South Africa became a constitutional democracy <a href="https://www.britannica.com/question/How-did-apartheid-end">in 1994</a>, it replaced its apartheid-era intelligence apparatus with a new one aimed at serving the country’s new democratic dispensation. However, the regime of former president Jacob Zuma, 2009-2018, deviated from this path. It <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201903/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency.pdf">abused</a> the intelligence services to serve his political and allegdly corrupt ends. Now the country is taking steps to remedy the situation.</p>
<p>In November 2023, the presidency published the <a href="https://pmg.org.za/bill/1197/">General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill</a>. It proposes overhauling the civilian intelligence agency, the <a href="http://www.ssa.gov.za/">State Security Agency</a>, to address the <a href="https://www.saflii.org/images/state-capture-commission-report-part-5-vol1.pdf">abuses</a>.</p>
<p>The bill is extremely broad in scope. It intends to amend 12 laws – including the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/act39of1994.pdf">main</a> <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a65-020.pdf">intelligence</a> <a href="https://static.pmg.org.za/docs/120224oversight_0.PDF">laws</a> of the democratic era. </p>
<p>Parliament has set itself a <a href="https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/38063/">1 March deadline</a> to complete work on the bill before it dissolves for the national election expected between <a href="https://www.elections.org.za/pw/elections/whats-new-in-the-2024-elections-electoral-amendment-act">May and August</a>. </p>
<p>I have researched intelligence and surveillance for over a decade and also served on the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201903/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency.pdf">2018 High Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency</a>.</p>
<p>In my view, some of the proposals in the bill risk replacing the old abuses with new ones. The bill seeks to broaden intelligence powers drastically but fails to address <a href="https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/38207/">longstanding weaknesses in their oversight</a>. </p>
<h2>Ending abuse</h2>
<p>The bill is meant to respond to major criticisms of the State Security Agency during Zuma’s presidency. The critics include the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201903/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency.pdf">High Level Review Panel</a> and the <a href="https://www.saflii.org/images/state-capture-commission-report-part-5-vol1.pdf">Commission of Inquiry into State Capture</a>. </p>
<p>The main criticism of the panel appointed by Zuma’s successor Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 was that under Zuma, the executive <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201903/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency.pdf">repurposed</a> the agency to keep him in power, along with his supporters and others dependent on his patronage. In 2009, he merged the erstwhile domestic intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Agency, and the foreign agency, the <a href="https://www.ssa.gov.za/AboutUs/Branches">South African Secret Service</a>, by <a href="https://www.defenceweb.co.za/security/national-security/ssa-takes-shape-legislation-to-follow/">presidential proclamation</a>, to centralise intelligence. This made it easier for his regime to control intelligence to achieve nefarious ends. The state capture commission made <a href="https://www.saflii.org/images/state-capture-commission-report-part-5-vol1.pdf">similar findings</a>.</p>
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<p>The most important proposal in the bill is to abolish the <a href="https://nationalgovernment.co.za/units/view/42/state-security-agency-ssa">State Security Agency</a>. It is to be replaced by two separate agencies: one for foreign intelligence, and the other for domestic. The proposed new South African Intelligence Service (foreign) and the South African Intelligence Agency (domestic) will have separate mandates.</p>
<p>Abolishing the State Security Agency would be an important step towards accountability, as set out in the 1994 <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/white-papers/intelligence-white-paper-01-jan-1995#:%7E:text=The%20goal%20of%20this%20White,relevant%2C%20credible%20and%20reliable%20intelligence.">White Paper on Intelligence</a>. </p>
<p>The proposed names of the envisioned new agencies have symbolic importance. They suggest a shift away from a focus on state security, or protection of those in positions of power. Instead, it puts the focus back on human security. This is the protection of broader society, as <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/white-papers/intelligence-white-paper-01-jan-1995#:%7E:text=The%20goal%20of%20this%20White,relevant%2C%20credible%20and%20reliable%20intelligence.">required</a> by the 1994 White Paper.</p>
<h2>The dangers of over-broad definitions</h2>
<p>However, the new mandates given to the two new agencies, and the definitions they rely on, are so broad that abuse of their powerful spying capabilities is almost a foregone conclusion.</p>
<p>The bill says the new agencies will be responsible for collecting and analysing intelligence relating to threats or potential threats to national security in accordance with <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/constitution/chp11.html#:%7E:text=198.,to%20seek%20a%20better%20life.">the constitution</a>.</p>
<p>The bill defines national security as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the capabilities, measures and activities of the state to pursue or advance any threat, any potential threat, any opportunity, any potential opportunity or the security of the Republic and its people …</p>
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<p>This definition is extremely expansive. It allows the intelligence services to undertake any activity that could advance South Africa’s interests. This is regardless of whether there are actual national security threats. </p>
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<p>This creates the potential for overlap with the mandates of other state entities. However, unlike these, the intelligence agencies will be able to work secretly, using their extremely invasive <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2013-06-21-00-spy-wars-south-africa-is-not-innocent/">surveillance</a> <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-07-28-the-awful-state-of-lawful-interception-in-sa-part-two-surveillance-technology-thats-above-the-law/">capabilities</a>.</p>
<p>Such capabilities should only be used in exceptional circumstances when the country is under legitimate threat. To normalise their use in everyday government functions threatens democracy.</p>
<p>Intelligence overreach has happened elsewhere. Governments are increasingly requiring intelligence agencies to ensure that policymakers enjoy <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/national-security-surveillance-in-southern-africa-9780755640225/">decision advantages</a> in a range of areas. These include bolstering trade advantages over other countries.</p>
<p>For example, whistleblower <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance">Edward Snowden’s</a> leaks of classified US and UK intelligence documents showed how the countries misused broad interpretations of national security to engage in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/25907502">industrial espionage</a>.</p>
<p>The UK government used its powerful <a href="https://www.gchq.gov.uk/">signals intelligence capability</a> to <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2016/12/08/british-spying-tentacles-reach-across-africa-s-heads-of-states-and-business-leaders_5045668_3212.html">spy on</a> African politicians, diplomats and business people during trade negotiations. These abuses mean intelligence mandates should be narrowed and state intelligence power should be reduced.</p>
<h2>Human security definition of national security</h2>
<p>The State Security Agency used its presentation to parliament on the bill to seek broad mandates. Its <a href="https://pmg.org.za/files/231129Presentation_of_GILAB_Final.pptx">presentation</a> says it seeks to give effect to the national security principles in <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/constitution/chp11.html#:%7E:text=198.,to%20seek%20a%20better%20life.">section 198</a> of the constitution. The section states that:</p>
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<p>national security must reflect the resolve of South Africans, as individuals and as a nation, to live as equals, to live in peace and harmony, to be free from fear and want and to seek a better life.</p>
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<p>This principle is actually based on the human security definition of national security. The <a href="https://www.un.org/en/ga/">United Nations General Assembly</a> calls this freedom from fear and freedom from want. </p>
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<p>In its broadest sense, human security protects individuals from a wide range of threats and addresses their underlying drivers. These include <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231962570_Critical_Human_Security_Studies">poverty, underdevelopment and deprivation</a>. State security, on the other hand, is about protecting the state from threats. </p>
<p>If social issues are <a href="https://www.libraryofsocialscience.com/assets/pdf/Waever-Securitization.pdf">securitised</a> – or treated as national security issues requiring intervention by the state’s security services – it becomes difficult to distinguish the work of these agencies from the social welfare arms of the state.</p>
<h2>What needs to happen</h2>
<p>International relations scholar Neil MacFarlane and political scientist Yuen Foong Khong <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000147585">suggested</a> in 2006 that it was possible to address this conundrum by maintaining the focus on broader society as the entity that needs protection, rather than the state. </p>
<p>Legislators need to take a <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000147585">similar approach</a> when debating the bill. They should narrow the focus of the envisaged two new agencies to domestic and foreign threats of organised violence against society, such as genocide or terrorism. By doing so, they would still be recognising the best of what human security has to offer as an intelligence doctrine, while providing a much more appropriate focus for civilian intelligence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Duncan receives funding from the British Academy and is a director of Intelwatch, a non-governmental organisation devoted to strengthening democratic oversight of state and private intelligence. </span></em></p>The bill seeks greater intelligence powers but neglects oversight.Jane Duncan, Professor of Digital Society, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1863972022-07-09T08:37:52Z2022-07-09T08:37:52ZSouth Africa’s deadly July 2021 riots may recur if there’s no change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472813/original/file-20220706-26-8nkoxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The aftermath of the looting and violence of July 2021 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last July South Africa was hit by a wave of devastating violence that left over 350 people dead and caused <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-lies-behind-social-unrest-in-south-africa-and-what-might-be-done-about-it-166130">massive economic damage</a>. Different people have used different terms to describe what happened: civil unrest, looting, food riots, uprising, rebellion, counter-revolution.</p>
<p>Even government ministers were initially divided about <a href="https://mg.co.za/news/2021-07-19-security-cluster-disagrees-over-describing-recent-unrest-as-an-insurrection/">what to call the events</a>. President Cyril Ramaphosa labelled them <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-update-security-situation-country-16-jul-2021-0000">an insurrection</a>: a calculated, orchestrated effort to destabilise the country, sabotage the economy, and undermine constitutional democracy.</p>
<p>Whichever way the events are described, they can be attributed to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the pervasiveness of weak state institutions which failed at implementation,</p></li>
<li><p>ineffective security institutions which failed to uphold the law, and </p></li>
<li><p>poor oversight and consequence management at national, provincial, and local government levels.</p></li>
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<p>The picture pieced together by an <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/content/report-expert-panel-july-2021-civil-unrest">expert panel</a> appointed by Ramaphosa to probe the riots was of a build-up, over several months, of a deliberate and targeted campaign that set the stage for what was to come. This included violent rhetoric, social media mobilisation, and threats aimed at intimidating the courts and law enforcement agencies. There were other incendiary acts that fitted into a generalised pattern of public disorder. They included the burning of trucks, blockades of highways and sabotage of infrastructure.</p>
<p>These multi-layered currents fed off and reinforced each other. They <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/content/report-expert-panel-july-2021-civil-unrest">sometimes ran parallel to each other</a>. The jailing of former president Jacob Zuma <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2021-07-30-south-africas-july-riots-and-the-long-shadow-of-jacob-zuma-fall-over-party-and-state/">for contempt of court</a> was only a trigger. </p>
<p>The notion of an insurrection suggests that there were key politically motivated actors who exploited weaknesses in the state’s capacity to drive a general campaign of violence. The violence undermined the legitimacy of state institutions and left the nation psychologically traumatised.</p>
<p>It left a lingering sense that untouchable people could act with impunity. This perception has been reinforced by the <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2022-07-08-the-july-riots-a-year-later-but-no-justice-for-the-237-people-murdered/">slow trickle of prosecutions</a>, and unconvincing promises by the state to uncover the presumed masterminds.</p>
<p>A troubling question is whether a recurrence of the devastating events of July 2021 is possible. In my view, it is possible, if there is no meaningful change. </p>
<h2>Growing seeds of discontent</h2>
<p>The objective conditions which made the riots possible remain in place. These include the periodic disruptions and <a href="https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/trucks-block-roads-in-mpumalanga-including-n4-to-mozambique-20220706">blockades on national roads</a>, calls for <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/604062/unions-plan-national-shutdown-in-south-africa-amid-worries-were-becoming-another-zimbabwe/">national shutdowns</a>, and deliberate <a href="https://www.enca.com/news/sabotage-and-syndicates-hampering-eskom-recovery-gordhan">damage to infrastructure</a>. </p>
<p>Social media continues to be used to stoke fears and spread rumours of unrest. Moreover, the governing African National Congress (ANC) is wracked by internal rivalry. It is failing to provide much-needed leadership.</p>
<p>South Africa has for years seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-lies-behind-social-unrest-in-south-africa-and-what-might-be-done-about-it-166130">almost daily protests</a> over a lack of decent municipal services such as water, sanitation, a lack of housing and land. A trigger event, or set of conditions, could easily ignite the flames.</p>
<p>After two years of hardship brought about by COVID-19, there have been other shocks. Earlier this year, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/south-africa/south-africa-kwazulu-natal-floods-emergency-appeal-no-mdrza012-operational-strategy">KwaZulu-Natal</a> and <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2022/04/28/more-than-1-000-people-homeless-as-mabuyane-reveals-extent-of-ec-flood-damage">other parts of the country</a> were hit hard by devastating <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2022/06/15/clean-up-operations-underway-in-waterlogged-western-cape-following-heavy-rains">floods</a>, evoking further trauma.</p>
<p>In other parts of the country, drought is creating <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-has-had-lots-of-rain-and-most-dams-are-full-but-water-crisis-threat-persists-178788">serious water shortages</a>, bringing with it a new source of insecurity and instability. </p>
<p>Unemployment <a href="https://www.gcis.gov.za/content/resourcecentre/newsletters/insight/issue13">has risen</a>. Many of those with jobs are failing to make ends meet. The violent rhetoric that has been building up <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/04/south-africa-migrants-living-in-constant-fear-after-deadly-attacks/">against migrants</a> could almost be out of the July 2021 playbook. The rhetoric includes the circulating of untraceable videos designed to stoke tension and fear.</p>
<p>The Ukraine war has severely affected energy security and food security, with a knock-on effect on the cost of living in South Africa. </p>
<h2>Addressing the problem</h2>
<p>Ramaphosa has admitted to a lack of leadership on the part of government, adding that his <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-2022-state-nation-address-10-feb-2022-0000">cabinet accepts responsibility for the violence</a>. He pledged to drive a national response plan to address the weaknesses that the expert panel identified. This included the filling of critical vacancies in the security services, and appointing new leadership. </p>
<p>A new national <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2022/03/31/sehlahle-fannie-masemola-announced-as-new-national-police-commissioner">police commissioner has been appointed</a>. Likewise, the State Security Agency has <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2022-02-28-state-security-agency-finally-gets-a-permanent-boss/">a new head</a>. And Treasury has released funds to recruit and train <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/trending/583460/the-saps-is-hiring-thousands-of-officers-young-and-old/">more police officers</a> to bolster public order policing. </p>
<p>Since last year, the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/natjoints">NatJOINTS</a> has been responding regularly to unrest. This is welcome, but there is a risk of law enforcement agencies becoming stretched if they do not base their operational plans on reliable intelligence.</p>
<p>The recent findings of the <a href="https://www.statecapture.org.za/">judicial inquiry into state capture</a> <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202206/electronic-state-capture-commission-report-part-v-vol-i.pdf">point</a> to the hollowing out and abuse for political ends of intelligence services during the Zuma era. It is not surprising, therefore, that the security sector was so ill-prepared to preempt the violent unrest. </p>
<p>If there is an area in which all the security services need to improve their capabilities, it is in the most modern methods of technical surveillance and digital intelligence. The era of fake news and disinformation requires a new generation of personnel with digital skills. </p>
<p>The security services need to be better prepared in case there is a similar outbreak of violence.</p>
<p>They need to hone their skills and improve the coordination of the roles and resources of local, provincial and national government with those of the emergency services, civil society, business and private security providers. There is also a need to improve intelligence capacity, and to work closely with communities, business and civil society for more timely sharing of information. </p>
<p>But, the state cannot outsource its overall constitutional responsibility for guaranteeing public safety and security. Intelligence services must forewarn government and the country of threats to security, using lawful means. </p>
<p>Other countries provide lessons. When policing powers are not overseen in a well-regulated and lawful manner, the space created can be filled by militias, <a href="https://theconversation.com/rising-vigilantism-south-africa-is-reaping-the-fruits-of-misrule-179891">vigilantes</a> and others trading on the vulnerability of communities.</p>
<h2>What lies ahead</h2>
<p>On the anniversary of the July unrest, South Africans are demanding accountability and justice. Many feel let down by weak governance, political dysfunction, and economic inequality – mainly at the expense of the country’s poverty-stricken black majority. </p>
<p>The Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, in presenting the <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-mondli-gungubele-state-security-dept-budget-vote-202223-24-may-2022-0000">State Security budget vote</a> for 2022/23, pledged a doctrinal shift in approach, away from “state security” towards a people-centred notion of security.</p>
<p>The need for such a turn in approach had also been highlighted by the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201903/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency.pdf">report</a> of a panel appointed by Ramaphosa in June 2018, to review the workings of the country’s intelligence services.</p>
<p>The president has also promised an inclusive process of developing a national security strategy. Civil society bodies should use this opportunity to put their demands on the table. </p>
<p>South Africa needs a multi-pronged strategy to build peaceful, sustainable neighbourhoods, communities, and a nation where the rule of law prevails. </p>
<p>New notions of security that reflect a people-centred ethos, are needed. To face violent and destabilising crimes similar to July’s events, the country may need to review the mandates, capabilities and resourcing of the security services.</p>
<p>This does not imply the escalation of the use of deadly force. Methods aimed at deescalating conflict, engaging community leaders, and averting bloodshed are needed. This requires serious and dedicated security services and accountable political representatives to oversee the services to avoid abuses of power. </p>
<p>An engaged citizenry is also one that acts lawfully to save the country from civil conflict. South Africans would do well to consider carefully whether and how to institutionalise the many acts of heroism displayed last year. They include spontaneously formed community patrols protecting shopping centres and private security companies assisting the police with operational equipment. </p>
<p>South Africa can hopefully avoid a repeat of the events of July 2021. But that calls for a recalibrated security sector which is effective, responsive, accountable, serving the country’s democracy and not the interests of a few who manipulate them for personal or partisan gain. </p>
<p><em>This is an edited version of a speech delivered at the recent <a href="http://defendourdemocracy.co.za/">Defend our Democracy conference</a></em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186397/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandy Africa was chairperson of the Expert Panel on the July 2021 civil unrest, appointed to assess the shortcomings of the South African security services' response to the violence. She writes in her personal capacity.</span></em></p>South Africa needs a multi-pronged strategy for building peaceful, sustainable neighbourhoods, communities, and a nation where the rule of law prevails.Sandy Africa, Associate Professor, Political Sciences, and Deputy Dean Teaching and Learning (Humanities), University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1339142020-03-19T18:55:00Z2020-03-19T18:55:00ZIn the wake of bushfires and coronavirus, it’s time we talked about human security<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321456/original/file-20200318-1913-1esuybn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The term “human security” was <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-1994">first adopted</a> by the United Nations Development Program in 1994. We speak far less of it now than we did then. Yet the cataclysmic events of this year should remind us national security is no longer to be thought of in terms of conventional warfare and military expenditure.</p>
<p>Put simply, human security encompasses all those threats to survival that are not military or state-sponsored, and therefore tend to fall beneath the radar of those who imagine security in conventionally “hard” terms.</p>
<p>The recent bushfires and the coronavirus pandemic reveal imminent threats from climate change and global diseases that threaten the very survival of what we take for granted. Yet governments have been far less willing to commit to responding to these issues than to increasing military budgets.</p>
<p>When the concept of human security emerged it was designed to <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-1994">address seven themes</a>: “economic, food, health, environmental, personal, community and political security”. While these terms may seem too broad to be useful, all of them are directly related to the crises now facing the world.</p>
<p>These crises have taken me back to <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/academic-professional/politics-government/Why-Human-Security-Matters-Edited-by-Dennis-Altman-Joseph-A-Camilleri-Robyn-Eckersley-and-Gerhard-Hoffstaedter-9781743312025">a large research project</a> with several colleagues on rethinking the relevance of human security.</p>
<p>There is a voluminous literature on the meaning and limitations of human security. When he launched the book based on our research, the former foreign minister Gareth Evans <a href="http://www.gevans.org/speeches/speech490.html">defined it as</a> an attempt to link conventional understandings of national security with the needs of human development: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The concept of human security was broad enough to advance both freedom from fear and freedom from want.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the book, I wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Australia is unlikely to face a military invasion, of the sort we might have experienced in World War II, but its security is threatened by a series of global upheavals around food, water, new epidemics, transnational crime and climate change.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I might now add cybersecurity to that list.</p>
<p>Over the past few years, the Australian government has <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/262742/countries-with-the-highest-military-spending/">increased military expenditures</a> to the point where we are now among the top 15 countries ranked on defence spending.</p>
<p>Of course, our expenditure is trivial compared to the United States and China, but there is a powerful lobby pushing to increase it. At the same time, the government <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/issues/australian-foreign-aid">has made major cuts</a> to overseas development assistance, is resisting the need to seriously cut emissions and appeared unprepared for the severity of the coronavirus epidemic.</p>
<p>Growing concern about the rise of China and the unpredictability of the United States has meant we ignore the more immediate threats to our security, even as they are looming around us. Most troubling, perhaps, is the government’s dislike of global institutions in a period when we need global cooperation more than ever.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/03/scott-morrison-echoes-trump-as-he-warns-nations-must-avoid-negative-globalism">made several attacks</a> on what he terms an “unaccountable internationalist bureaucracy”. In this he appears to be following the lead of US President Donald Trump. Our declining foreign assistance budget is lessening the capacity of countries in our region to respond to health and climate emergencies.</p>
<p>The failure of the United States to provide leadership on either climate change or the coronavirus has emphasised the importance of great powers grasping that even their survival depends upon global action. Arguably the authoritarian Chinese regime, for all its unpleasantness, understands this better than the Trump administration.</p>
<p>It is a common aphorism that generals always fight the last war. Debates about the rise of China and the need to increase our military capabilities overlook the fact the most immediate threats to national security are not conventional military ones.</p>
<p>There are hints of this in Australia’s foreign policy. <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/pacific/Pages/shared-security-in-the-pacific">A statement</a> from Foreign Minister Marise Payne noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Australia’s longstanding and ongoing security cooperation with Pacific countries covers defence, law enforcement, transnational crime, climate and disaster resilience, border management and human security.</p>
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<p>But the shadow minister, Penny Wong, <a href="http://www.pennywong.com.au/speeches/security-in-a-disrupted-world-speech-to-women-and-national-security-conference-dinner/">has argued</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>‘Security’ has a much broader connotation than the more threat-based protective and response concepts on which a lot of public policy concentrates.</p>
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<p>But these statements stand apart from mainstream debates about “national security”, which remain dominated by concerns about military build-ups and terrorism.</p>
<p>After unparalleled bushfires and coronavirus, the concept of human security gives us the language to reassess the most immediate threats to our survival and the need for global cooperation to respond to them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dennis Altman received funding from the ARC during 2010/12 for a project examining human security and Australian foreign policy</span></em></p>Governments have been keen on investing in defence and national security, less so in human security. The current crises show it’s time that changed.Dennis Altman, Professorial Fellow in Human Security, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1321772020-02-25T18:33:34Z2020-02-25T18:33:34ZCanada must use its ‘soft power’ to champion global human rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316992/original/file-20200225-24680-o93hvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4285%2C2828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, in Ottawa in June 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the world enters the third decade of the 21st century, it is waking up to a new reality, facing threats to international solidarity and human security that are not necessarily economic in nature. </p>
<p>Climate change, inequality, populist movements, ethnic nationalism and global epidemics are posing major challenges to international development and human security. Disenchantment with the neoliberal economic system and unregulated capitalism is growing. And on the political front, the global balance of power is shifting as we move away from a unipolar world, dominated largely by the United States, to a bipolar world where China is emerging as the major counterpart to the U.S.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-exactly-is-neoliberalism-84755">What exactly is neoliberalism?</a>
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<p>These turbulent times pose challenges and call for collective action since many threats to human security can no longer be contained within the geographical boundaries of nation states. </p>
<p>Although Canada has reduced its <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-oecd-report-urges-canada-to-increase-spending-on-foreign-aid/">foreign aid commitments recently</a>, it has great potential to make up for it by using its soft power to address issues of international development and security. <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2004-05-01/soft-power-means-success-world-politics">Soft power</a> is defined as a persuasive approach to international relations and diplomacy that doesn’t involve coercion and trades on a country’s cultural and economic influence.</p>
<p>Since the world and the nature of threats to human security and solidarity have changed, our approach to international solidarity and development must also change. In many ways, Canada is well-prepared to lead that change. </p>
<h2>No longer all about income</h2>
<p>The notion of international development, as historically understood in light of an income-centred approach, is now being <a href="https://www.weforum.org/focus/beyond-gdp">increasingly contested</a>. For too long, we have measured progress and well-being in terms of expansion in GDP alone and framed issues of international development predominantly in terms of lack of income. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-our-obsession-with-gdp-ignores-harm-done-to-welfare-and-the-world-91763">Why our obsession with GDP ignores harm done to welfare and the world</a>
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<p>There are growing calls to <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/10/gdp-is-not-a-measure-of-human-well-being">question this approach</a>. Economic growth is of little use if it doesn’t promote broad-based human well-being, leads to climate change and threatens the very survival of the human race. </p>
<p>What the world needs today, more than ever, is a model of international development that is decolonized, humane and centred on human rights and freedoms. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316993/original/file-20200225-24694-19n5vkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316993/original/file-20200225-24694-19n5vkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316993/original/file-20200225-24694-19n5vkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316993/original/file-20200225-24694-19n5vkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316993/original/file-20200225-24694-19n5vkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316993/original/file-20200225-24694-19n5vkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316993/original/file-20200225-24694-19n5vkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316993/original/file-20200225-24694-19n5vkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is seen at an event at Harvard University in May 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Gretchen Ertl/AP Images for FXB)</span></span>
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<p>The United Nations — under the intellectual guidance of scholars like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/nov/22/amartya-sen-human-development-doyen">Amartya Sen</a> and development practitioners like <a href="http://www.hdr.undp.org/en/content/assessing-human-development">Mahbub ul Haq</a> — has made significant headway in popularizing a more humane model of international development through the publication of its <a href="http://www.hdr.undp.org">Annual Human Development Reports</a> and the Human Development Index. </p>
<p>It has also influenced global security discourse by popularizing a concept of <a href="https://www.un.org/humansecurity">human security</a> that transcends the traditional focus on territorial security and encompasses health, food and environmental safety. </p>
<p>That concept recognizes the geographic and spatial connectivity of threats. It’s based on the realization that the battle for human survival in the future will be fought not by defending national borders but by understanding the interconnectedness of the fate of human race — and by evoking the compassion that unites us as fellow human beings.</p>
<p>The intellectual foundations of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also rest on the <a href="https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/news-centre/speeches/2019/25th-anniversary-of-the-human-security-concept.html">concept of human security</a>. Canada has been at the forefront of promoting this concept. Through the formation of the <a href="https://www.austria.org/the-human-security-network">Human Security Network</a> with like-minded countries, Canada was successful, to an extent, in influencing <a href="https://www.cips-cepi.ca/2013/05/21/the-human-security-network-fifteen-years-on">global institutions</a> to promote a human security agenda.</p>
<h2>New threats</h2>
<p>Canada needs to continue its efforts in this direction, especially in light of new or heightened threats to human security that the world faces today in the form of climate change, polarization, ethnic nationalism, intolerance and the global spread of disease. Canada’s efforts in promoting a <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/priorities-priorites/human_rights-droits_personne.aspx?lang=eng">human rights-based approach to international solidarity</a> are commendable.</p>
<p>Whether it’s an issue of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-morning-update-trudeau-says-canada-will-stand-up-for-human-rights">freedom of speech violations in repressive regimes</a> or assisting international refugees, Canada has adopted a humane approach and has set high moral standards. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/syrian-refugees-in-canada-four-years-after-the-welcome-126312">Syrian refugees in Canada: Four years after the welcome</a>
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<p>Given the current <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/09/the-global-economic-balance-of-power-is-shifting">shift in the global balance of power</a> from U.S. dominance to the one that includes China and other emerging economies, middle-power countries like Canada, France and Germany will <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA352615119&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00207020&p=AONE&sw=w">be in a better position</a> to use their soft power to influence global institutions on human rights-based development and to promote much-needed human rights around the world.</p>
<p>Although Canada’s recent reduction in foreign aid has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-inhumanity-of-cutting-canadian-aid-to-countries-in-need-124680">harshly criticized</a>, it can be seen in a positive light as it signals a move away from problem-solving approach that is based on short-term humanitarian assistance. </p>
<p>What’s really needed for long-term sustainable development is to address the root causes of underdevelopment, which include unaccountable governments, corruption, concentration of political power in the hands of the few without proper checks and balances or rule of law, weak property rights and contract enforcement, and lack of opportunities for the vast majority of citizens.</p>
<h2>Genuine global leadership needed</h2>
<p>But whether Canada’s decision to reduce foreign aid signals the need to address the root causes of underdevelopment isn’t clear. Too often, the Global North has supported repressive, dictatorial regimes in the Global South to promote its own economic and geopolitical interests. </p>
<p>It’s time to realize that sustainable and people-centred development is not possible as long as unequal structures of power and repressive political regimes remain intact in developing countries.</p>
<p>The world is ready for a new vision that defines human progress in a profound way and recognizes the interconnectedness of the fate of humanity. But to achieve this, we need a genuine and credible global leadership. </p>
<p>Given Canada’s global image and its historical record in promoting ethical norms and freedoms around the world, it commands greater legitimacy. However, to bring about genuine change, middle-power countries like Canada must adopt a leadership role in pursuing an ethical agenda to ensure the security and survival of humanity. </p>
<p>Is Canada ready to lead?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sadia Mariam Malik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To bring about genuine change, middle-power countries like Canada must adopt a leadership role in pursuing an ethical agenda to ensure the security and survival of humanity.
Is Canada ready to lead?Sadia Mariam Malik, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1165472019-05-20T13:44:57Z2019-05-20T13:44:57ZWhat Nigeria must do to deal with its ransom-driven kidnapping crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274357/original/file-20190514-60529-hpe03j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigerians living in Spain rally against Boko Haram insurgents who abducted over 200 girls from a school in Chibok, northeast of the country. </span> </figcaption></figure><p>Frequent acts of violent crime have grown to form a major threat to Nigeria’s <a href="http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol20-issue1/Version-4/K2014123133.pdf">national security</a>. These include instances of militancy, insurgency and banditry. Banditry includes cattle rustling, armed robbery and kidnapping for ransom. </p>
<p>Kidnapping has remained the most virulent form of banditry in Nigeria. It has become the most pervasive and intractable violent crime in the country. </p>
<p>Kidnapping can be targeted at individuals or at groups. School children have been kidnapped in groups in various parts of Nigeria. Usually, the prime targets of kidnapping for ransom are those considered to be wealthy enough to pay a fee in exchange for being freed. </p>
<p><a href="https://knoema.com/atlas/Nigeria/Kidnapping-rate">Kidnapping</a> is the unlawful detention of a person through the use of force, threats, fraud or enticement. The purpose is an illicit gain, economic or material, in exchange for liberation. It may also be used to pressure someone into doing something – or not doing something.</p>
<p>Nigeria has one of the world’s <a href="https://constellis-production-tmp.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/document/file/103/CONSTELLIS_CONFIDENTIAL_-_Global_Kidnap_for_Ransom_Report_-_May_2018.pdf">highest rates</a> of kidnap-for-ransom cases. Other countries high up on the list included Venezuela, Mexico, Yemen, Syria, the Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. </p>
<p>Thousands of Nigerians have been kidnapped for ransom and other purposes <a href="https://knoema.com/atlas/Nigeria/Kidnapping-rate">over the years</a>. Kidnapping has prevailed in spite of measures put in place by the government. The Nigerian police’s anti-kidnapping squad, introduced in the 2000s, has endeavoured to stem the menace. But this been to no avail, mainly due to a lack of manpower and poor logistics. </p>
<p>In my view these efforts have also failed because of weak sanctioning and deterrence mechanisms. Kidnapping thrives in an environment that condones crime; where criminal opportunism and impunity prevail over and above deterrence. </p>
<p>This obviously calls for an urgent review of Nigeria’s current anti-kidnapping approach to make it more effective.</p>
<h2>Opportunistic and organised bandits</h2>
<p>Even prior to the advent of colonialism there were <a href="http://www.projectsxtra.com/resources/1498.html">recorded cases</a> of kidnap for rape, ritual or for other purposes in various parts of Nigeria. But kidnapping today is done primarily for ransom – either money or its material equivalent to be paid for someone’s release. The underlying logic of the kidnapping enterprise is that the victim is worth a ransom value and they or their proxy have the capacity to pay.</p>
<p>Each victim has a so-called <a href="https://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/RHSS/article/viewFile/11987/12311">“kidnap ransom value”</a> which makes them an attractive target. This value is determined by a number of factors. These include the victim’s socio-economic or political status, family or corporate premium on the victim, the type of kidnappers involved, as well as the dynamics of ransom negotiation. </p>
<p>The kidnapping business in Nigeria has been mostly perpetrated by <a href="https://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00021893.html">criminal gangs</a> and violent groups pursuing <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461355719832619">political agendas</a>. Bandits have often taken to kidnapping for ransom to make money. The <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/nigeria-most-wanted-nigeria-evans-kidnapping-624313">escapades</a> of the famous kidnap kingpin, Evans, speak volumes of this pattern of kidnapping. Evans was a multimillionaire kidnapper who was arrested in Lagos a few years ago. He is currently is detention awaiting trial.</p>
<p>Organised violent groups such as militants and insurgents have also been involved in kidnap for ransom in Nigeria. Current trends have been <a href="http://www.projectsxtra.com/resources/1498.html">linked back</a> to the example set by Niger Delta militants who resorted to solo and group abductions as a means of generating funds both for private use and for the cause of a particular group. </p>
<p>Similarly, Boko Haram insurgents have <a href="http://venuesafrica.com/boko-haram-makes-cash-from-stolen-cattle-January">used the proceeds</a> of kidnapping to keep their insurgency afloat. The insurgents engage in single or group kidnapping as a means of generating money to fund their activities. Huge sums are often paid as ransom by the victims’ families and associates to secure their release.</p>
<p>In addition to militants and insurgents, organised local and transnational criminal syndicates have been involved. This is happening to <a href="http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2018/09/13/zamfara-nigeria-s-wild-northwest">apocalyptic proportions</a> in North West Nigeria where rural bandits engage regularly in kidnapping in the states of Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi and Sokoto.</p>
<h2>The cost</h2>
<p>Kidnapping has led to the loss of tens of thousands of lives and huge sums of money in Nigeria. Many of the victims of the crime have been killed in the course of their abduction, custody or release. Many more have been injured. This is in addition to huge amounts of money lost to ransom takers. </p>
<p>For the victims and their families and friends, the consequences are even more frightful. </p>
<p>Nigeria should never have got here. Kidnappers persist because the benefits of their crimes exceed the costs. So the obvious solution is to raise the costs by imposing harsher, surer penalties. The present penalty for kidnapping ranges from one to 20 years in prison, with the possibility of life imprisonment for extreme cases involving, for instance, murder. </p>
<p>Stricter measures, such as life imprisonment or the death penalty, may not be completely out of place in dealing with the kidnapping menace. After all, the crime of kidnapping is a maximum threat that requires an equally maximum deterrence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chukwuma Al Okoli receives funding from: Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Nigeria and Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) </span></em></p>Kidnapping in Nigeria has blossomed into a burgeoning criminal enterprise.Al Chukwuma Okoli, Lecturer/Resident Researcher Department of Political Science, Federal University LafiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/428922015-06-29T01:47:05Z2015-06-29T01:47:05ZPursuing happiness: it’s mostly a matter of surviving well together<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85011/original/image-20150615-5838-16btdkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Our individual happiness, the quality of our relationships and community well-being are closely interconnected.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-178533422/stock-photo-large-group-of-diverse-people-holding-hands.html?src=Ms7K8OFdxl7RtmKVNubz6g-1-81">Shutterstock/Rawpixel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of a series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/on-happiness">On Happiness</a>, examining what it means and how it might be achieved in the 21st century.</em></p>
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<p>Understandings of happiness are shifting. More and more research is finding that we cannot <a href="https://theconversation.com/however-you-spend-it-money-isnt-the-key-to-happiness-25289">spend our way to happiness</a>. Increasing incomes do not necessarily lead to increasing happiness. Even in a country such as China, average incomes have increased fourfold since the 1990s while life satisfaction has <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-our-happiness-and-satisfaction-should-replace-gdp-in-policy-making-30934">decreased</a> over the same period. </p>
<p>Research is also finding that happiness is less an individual matter and more a collective endeavour. The quality of our relationships with others is <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-gdp-happiness-is-about-more-than-just-individuals-33768">pivotal</a>. These others include those closest to us (our immediate family and friends) as well as those unknown to us but with whom we comprise a society. </p>
<p>In a climate-changing world, this relational understanding of happiness also has to extend to our relationship with the planet on which our survival depends.</p>
<p>The shift in understanding happiness could not be better summed up than in the <a href="http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Short-GNH-Index-edited.pdf">words</a> of the first elected prime minister of Bhutan in 2008: </p>
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<p>We know that true abiding happiness cannot exist while others suffer, and comes only from serving others, living in harmony with nature, and realising our innate wisdom and the true and brilliant nature of our own minds.</p>
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<p>In our research on economies for <a href="http://takebackeconomy.net/">people and the environment</a>, we have focused on our relationships with others. Thus, instead of happiness, we talk of “surviving well together”. The idea of survival might seem too linked to material sufficiency, but for us it reframes our human-centred view of the world and locates humans as part of the web of life on Earth.</p>
<p>Surviving well together means taking into account not just our individual happiness and well-being but the happiness and well-being of others and the planet on which we live. </p>
<p>Surviving well together means considering how we live our lives on multiple fronts.</p>
<h2>The five elements of well-being</h2>
<p>One starting point is our own well-being. Consistent with the research on happiness, well-being is not about material wealth. In a <a href="http://www.gallup.com/press/176624/wellbeing-five-essential-elements.aspx">comprehensive study</a> of people in more than 150 countries, Tom Rath and Jim Harter found that there are five essential elements to well-being: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Well-being is about the combination of our love for what we do each day, the quality of our relationships, the security of our finances, the vibrancy of our physical health, and the pride we take in what we have contributed to our communities. Most importantly, it’s about how these five elements interact.</p>
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<p>This definition can help us think about what we do with our time. Are we using our time to cultivate all the elements of our well-being? <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-its-not-you-why-wellness-isnt-the-answer-to-overwork-42124">Are we overworking</a> to the detriment of our relationships, physical health and community contributions? </p>
<p>Downshifters are one group of people who take these questions seriously. They <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/documents/dp_fulltext/DP62.pdf">downsize their paid work</a> to have more time for other kinds of “work” – for nurturing their relationships, communities, environments. Some sea changers or tree changers are likewise experimenting with <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-tax-why-you-pay-150000-extra-to-live-in-emerald-city-20150606-ghhb3z">ways of surviving well by moving</a> to areas with cheaper housing and shorter commutes. </p>
<p>Not all of us have these options for surviving well (or what are sometimes disparagingly call “lifestyle choices”). Surviving well is also a matter of surviving well together by ensuring that there are social supports for all – such as decent and affordable health care, education, public transport and housing – safe working conditions and reasonable working hours; and jobs that are fairly paid. </p>
<p>With these conditions in place we can start to create societies in which all have an opportunity to achieve the five elements of well-being.</p>
<p>At the same time it is important that we do not forget what the late environmental philosopher Val Plumwood <a href="http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-March-2008/plumwood.html">described</a> as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the many unrecognised, shadow places that provide our material and ecological support. </p>
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<p>As the climate crises deepens, the importance of attending to our ecological supports becomes all the more evident and pressing. Sadly, it all too often takes tragic events such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-more-tragic-than-death-who-remembers-rana-plaza-18222">Rana Plaza factory collapse</a> in Bangladesh to remind us of those people whose work in shadow places provides our material support. </p>
<p>We can take individual steps to care for our own well-being while insisting our governments provide social supports for all. So too, in an interconnected world, we can take individual steps to change our relationship with shadow places by considering what and how much we consume, while also pressuring governments and corporations and supporting the work of labour and environmental rights organisations. </p>
<h2>Moving to an alternative sensibility</h2>
<p>With the shift in understandings of happiness, various indicators and indices have been developed to more accurately reflect the well-being of nations. These include the <a href="http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/">Gross National Happiness</a> measure devised and used by the Bhutanese government; the <a href="http://genuineprogress.net/">Genuine Progress Indicator</a> adopted in the US by the states of Maryland in 2010 and Vermont in 2012; and the <a href="http://worldhappiness.report/">World Happiness Report</a>, developed by the <a href="http://unsdsn.org/">Sustainable Development Solutions Network</a> for the United Nations.</p>
<p>In various ways these measures delink money from happiness and recognise that happiness is a collective rather than individual pursuit. Their downside is that they reduce the state of a nation to a single measure and lead to the inevitable ranking of nations. They have limited capacity to generate what the sociologist John Law calls <a href="http://cus.sagepub.com/content/3/2/239.abstract">“an alternative sensibility”</a> that recognises the complexity of any given context.</p>
<p>We have been interested in the potential of what we call “relational metrics”. These are tools such as a <a href="http://takebackeconomy.net/?page_id=387">24-hour clock</a>, which people can use to track their use of time and evaluate whether it is being spent in ways that support or undermine their ability to survive well. Or the <a href="http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/calculators/personal/introduction.asp">ecological footprint calculators</a>, which people can use to assess the impact of their lives on the well-being of the planet. Or the <a href="http://takebackeconomy.net/?page_id=391">Ethical Interconnection Checklist</a>, which people can use to consider the shadow places that are part and parcel of how we survive well. </p>
<p>It is practical tools such as these that might help us shift from the pursuit of happiness to the pursuit of surviving well together. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is based on an essay in the collection <a href="http://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/on-happiness-new-ideas-for-the-twenty-first-century">On Happiness</a>: New Ideas for the Twenty-First Century (UWA Publishing, June 2015).</em></p>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/on-happiness">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42892/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We now know that we cannot spend our way to happiness nor pursue it as an individual goal. It turns out that happiness is built on the foundations of good relationships and broad well-being.Katherine Gibson, Professor of Economic Geography, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityJenny Cameron, Associate Professor, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of NewcastleStephen Healy, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/142102013-05-14T20:10:48Z2013-05-14T20:10:48ZOn the ‘big table’ of the Security Council, Australia must champion the cause of women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23708/original/8h8pxwvq-1368507021.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia should use its new power on the UN Security Council to make sure women are high on the UN agenda.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNIFEM</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia has always taken a lead role in international security debates at the United Nations. In Canberra, representatives from civil society organisations will meet with the government to discuss Australia’s priorities for the rare opportunity presented by Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-misunderstood-victory-australia-and-the-security-council-9787">ascension</a> to a seat on the UN Security Council for 2013-14.</p>
<p>One key issue at the meeting will be what agendas Australia might pursue during its first of two one month stints as President of the Security Council, <a href="http://www.un.org/en/sc/presidency/">due in September 2013</a>. With the presidency, Australia assumes an important responsibility for handling the crisis management powers of the Security Council as determined by the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/">UN Charter</a>. It also gives Australia the opportunity to promote broader issues of the Security Council’s work, like peacebuilding or protection of civilians.</p>
<p>Australia should use this opportunity to build upon its already strong commitment to the <a href="http://www.peacewomen.org/security_council_monitor/about-women-peace-and-security-agenda">Women, Peace and Security</a> (WPS) agenda. This is an important, cross-cutting issue, and is relevant to all areas of the Security Council’s peace and security work. </p>
<p>It is also one area where Australia is very well positioned to make a real difference. The agenda stems from a cluster of five Security Council resolutions that have been passed between 2000 and 2010. The most commonly known and comprehensive of these is <a href="http://www.peacewomen.org/themes_theme.php?id=15&subtheme=true">Resolution 1325</a>, passed in 2000.</p>
<p>These resolutions highlight that women and girls experience conflict in ways that are different from men and boys by virtue of their gender, and that violators of women’s rights should be brought to justice. They also note that the experiences of women and girls, and women and girls themselves, have been overlooked in processes designed to bring about peace. </p>
<p>The resolutions further draw upon evidence that peace is more likely to be sustainable when women are included alongside men in designing processes for conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction.</p>
<p>These points have been demonstrated in all conflict zones. For example, the Iraq Ministry of Planning estimates that as a consequence of its many conflicts, there are about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/middleeast/iraqi-widows-numbers-have-grown-but-aid-lags.html">900,000 widows</a> (or female heads of household) in Iraq today, less than 10% of which receive government benefits. In a patriarchal country whose reconstruction process has focused on getting men back to work, women are unlikely to find economic independence. </p>
<p>Similarly, the UN’s work has highlighted the widespread specific targeting of women for gender-based violence in conflicts in <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44230">Syria</a>, the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/us-congo-democratic-un-idUSBRE9470Z520130508">Democratic Republic of Congo</a>, <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/2013/04/press-release-un-women-strongly-condemns-honour-killings-of-women-and-girls/">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44845&Cr=&Cr1=#.UZHM0WSPirY">the Sudan</a>. Such structural and physical violence affects women’s health and wellbeing and their capacity to participate in peacebuilding processes. </p>
<p>Since 1990, <a href="https://unwomen.org.au/campaigns/women-frontline">only 16% of peace agreements</a> either had a woman at the negotiating table or mentioned women at all in the content of the agreement. The UN has also never appointed a woman to be the chief mediator of a peace process.</p>
<p>The resolutions call upon UN member states to ensure that there is a gender perspective included in its analysis and understanding of conflict, and that women themselves are included in all aspects of the UN’s work. This translates to a consideration of how each issue affects men and women differently: something that is long overdue.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23707/original/yk7qmqby-1368506956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23707/original/yk7qmqby-1368506956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23707/original/yk7qmqby-1368506956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23707/original/yk7qmqby-1368506956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23707/original/yk7qmqby-1368506956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23707/original/yk7qmqby-1368506956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23707/original/yk7qmqby-1368506956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Having gained a seat at the table, will the Australian government take up the opportunity to influence the Security Council’s agenda?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/ Jason Szenes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In order to implement this agenda both domestically and internationally, Australia has released a <a href="http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/our-responsibilities/women/publications-articles/government-international/australian-national-action-plan-on-women-peace-and-security-2012-2018">National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security</a> in 2012. The plan outlines Australia’s commitment to including women in peace negotiations, training our police and peacekeepers to understand gender issues, and increasing women’s representation in our own armed forces.</p>
<p>So what can Australia do in the Security Council to promote this agenda? The short answer is plenty. When it takes on the role as President of the Security Council in September, Australia can promote strategies to hold existing gains on the issue and protect women’s full range of rights during military drawdowns and other transitional periods, such as those now occurring in Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands, to name but two.</p>
<p>Australia has the opportunity and ability to bring the lived experience of women to the attention of the primary security institution in the globe, and it should do so. After all, whose security is it anyway?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/14210/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katrina Lee-Koo receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Harris Rimmer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia has always taken a lead role in international security debates at the United Nations. In Canberra, representatives from civil society organisations will meet with the government to discuss Australia’s…Katrina Lee-Koo, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Australian National UniversitySusan Harris Rimmer, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/102252012-10-19T02:53:41Z2012-10-19T02:53:41ZSecurity council win a golden opportunity to fix national security at home<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16713/original/spd5d2wv-1350609444.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Foreign Minister, Senator Bob Carr, casts Australia's vote for membership of the Security Council</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA Andrew Gombert</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/iran-israel-key-to-australias-un-win-20121019-27uny.html">successful campaign</a> to win a two year seat on the UN Security Council is welcome news. While much of the commentary has focused on the domestic politics or the diplomacy of the bid, security experts will be more concerned with how well we are placed to discharge the solemn duty such a position demands. </p>
<p>Not only does the council face ongoing crises in <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9760000/9760642.stm">Iran</a>, <a href="http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/02/why-syria-turmoil-threatens-middle-east/?iref=allsearch">Syria</a>, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19998195">DRC</a>, Lebanon, <a href="https://theconversation.com/un-recognition-palestine-israel-and-the-path-forward-3535">Palestine</a> and more, but the global security agenda is rapidly changing to take in climate change and environmental crises, natural disasters, pandemics, forced migration and crimes against humanity. All this in addition to familiar concerns with strategic instability, proliferation and weapons of mass destruction. New issues and phenomena arise quickly but often have deep structural roots that go unrecognised. </p>
<p>Australia faces a twofold challenge: to stake out an independent and constructive position on matters that come before the council (which may be challenging for a close US ally), and to develop a national approach to the global agenda that will back our diplomacy with the best analysis and resources.</p>
<h2>Going our own way</h2>
<p>The first part of the challenge will require us to back our historic record of creativity and “good international citizenship” (exemplified by our role in the <a href="http://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/">Chemical Weapons Convention</a>, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/16/world/cambodia-peace-plan-advances.html">Cambodian peace plan</a>, international peacekeeping, and commitment to the <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">UN millennium goals</a> on poverty) with a morally consistent policy that contributes to global security and human rights. </p>
<p>Avoiding US pressures and domestic agendas will be important here, especially given its veto power on the council. </p>
<p>We will need to stake out a genuinely balanced position on Palestine by strongly supporting self-determination and criticising illegal Israeli settlements while supporting Israel’s legitimate security interests. We will need to avoid the hyperbolic approach to Iran typical of US politics and maintain the kind of pressure that leaves diplomatic doors open.</p>
<h2>A national security strategy</h2>
<p>The second part of the challenge - to develop an integrated national security approach that will support our diplomacy - lies at home. We need to develop a framework that can bring together defence policy, homeland security and international diplomacy under an overarching national security strategy. </p>
<p>Australia’s national security strategy lacks an overarching framework that unifies all the domestic and international security challenges we face into a conceptual and policy whole. The problem is both structural and moral.</p>
<p>Structurally, we need to be able to bring a range of diverse security challenges - armed conflict, rising powers, climate change, proliferation, forced migration, terrorism, natural disasters, fragile states, and human insecurity – into a single framework. We need to be able to understand them in isolation and in their (often complex) interaction. </p>
<p>Morally, we need to align our national security policy with international human rights standards, a robust domestic rule of law, and a commitment to the security of our region and the world as a whole. </p>
<p>The past decade alone has seen too many blots on our record: military and diplomatic support for an unlawful invasion of Iraq in 2003; obsequious diplomacy with the Musharraf regime in Pakistan; and most damningly, the elevation of asylum seekers to a national security threat.</p>
<h2>Globalised insecurity</h2>
<p>Hard-headed security experts will maintain that national security is incompatible with human rights in all cases, and that we should be selective in our approach to international law. Others will maintain that the security agenda should be limited to national defence and military concerns, and avoid including “non-traditional” issues such the environment, refugees, and human security. </p>
<p>This disregards the way in which the globalisation of insecurity, whether with regard to conflict, climate, people movements, or nuclear weapons, has overwhelmed the capacities of states to deal with complex problems alone. </p>
<p>The way to unify traditional and non-traditional concerns in our national security policy is by making human security a priority. Human security is achieved through education, healthcare, social safety nets, economic management and policing.</p>
<h2>Human security</h2>
<p><a href="http://ochaonline.un.org/Default.aspx?alias=ochaonline.un.org/humansecurity">Human security</a> is a holistic approach to the security of both states and communities that was defined by the UN in 2003 as the creation of “political, social, environmental, economic, military and cultural systems that give people the building blocks of survival, livelihood and dignity”. In a chapter I contributed to the recently released book, Why Human Security Matters, I draft the outlines of a model national security strategy that uses human security as a unifying principle.</p>
<p>Human security is a basic global good and is of growing strategic importance. If we make human security a priority there is likely to be less conflict, less injustice, and less violence internationally. Human security is also a routine expectation of national government. We expect our governments to provide education, healthcare, welfare and police services. It is natural to see this extended globally. </p>
<p>The terror attacks of 9/11 and their aftermath prove that we cannot achieve security by depriving others of it. Our national security is in fact enhanced by a commitment to human security.</p>
<h2>A new opportunity</h2>
<p>From the complex wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to crises in East Timor and the Solomon Islands, disasters such as the 2004 Tsunami, and the resentments of Israeli and US policy that motivate transnational terrorists, we have learned that strategic threats have their roots in human insecurity. </p>
<p>Our troops have found themselves in harm’s way, and our interests have been compromised because we lacked a global framework to promote human security, one that treats the security of all human beings equally. </p>
<p>As a global human security framework becomes more entrenched, it will form a crucial floor for our national security. It will also enable us to make a contribution to the work of the UN Security Council that is much greater than our role as a middle power may suggest.</p>
<p>The world remains a dangerous place, and many states don’t want to play nicely with their neighbours. This makes a human security strategy challenging, but just as compelling. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10225/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Burke has received funding from the Australian Research Council. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Arms Control Association and the Federation of American Scientists.</span></em></p>Australia’s successful campaign to win a two year seat on the UN Security Council is welcome news. While much of the commentary has focused on the domestic politics or the diplomacy of the bid, security…Anthony Burke, Associate Professor of International Politics, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.