Human Security And the UN

by MacFarlane, S. Neil

• ISBN13: 9780253218391
• ISBN10: 025321839X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-08
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

How did the individual human being become the focus of the contemporary discourse on security? What was the role of the United Nations in "securing" the individual? What are the payoffs and costs of this extension of the concept? Neil MacFarlane and Yuen Foong Khong tackle these questions by analyzing historical and contemporary debates about what is to be secured. From Westphalia through the 19th century, the state's claim to be the object of security was sustainable because it offered its subjects some measure of protection. The state's ability to provide security for its citizens came under heavy strain in the 20th century as a result of technological, strategic, and ideological innovations. By the end of World War II, efforts to reclaim the security rights of individuals gathered pace, as seen in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a host of United Nations covenants and conventions. MacFarlane and Khong highlight the UN's work in promoting human security ideas since the 1940s, giving special emphasis to its role in extending the notion of security to include development, economic, environmental, and other issues in the 1990s.

Author Biography

S. Neil MacFarlane is Lester B. Pearson Professor of International Relations and Head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University and Professional Fellow at St. Anne's College.

Yuen Foong Khong is John G. Winant University Lecturer in American Foreign Policy and Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford University.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly, and Thomas G. Weiss
Acknowledgments	xv
Abbreviations	xvii
Introduction	1	(18)
Part I. The Archaeology of Human Security	19	(120)
1 The Prehistory of Human Security	23	(38)
2 The UN and Human Security during the Cold War	61	(46)
3 The Evolving Critique of National Security	107	(32)
Part II. The Emergence of Human Security	139	(122)
4 The UN and Human Security: The Development Dimension	143	(21)
5 The UN and Human Security: The Protection Dimension	164	(38)
6 Human Security and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups	202	(23)
7 Human Security and the UN: A Critique	225	(36)
Conclusion	261	(10)
Notes	271	(54)
Index	325	(18)
About the Authors	343	(2)
About the United Nations Intellectual History Project	345