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Security is the deepest and most abiding issue in politics; linked to pursuit of order and establishment of relative peace
and stability among individuals and groups; commonly resolved in domestic realm by the existence of a sovereign state,
and roles of the institutions of the coercive state: police and military
o The Police
Lies at the heart of the coercive state; maintains domestic order; came into existence in the 19th
century as a result of industrialization
difference with military-- Has a routine and everyday involvement in public life; closely integrated into
society than is the military; use non-military tactics
modern developments tend to blur the distinction between the police and the military
Roles can be shaped by the nature of political systems and the ways in which government uses the
police
Civil policing tends to be distinguished from political policing and divisions are usually identified
between liberal states and so-called police states
Role of the Police:
Civil policing enforcement of criminal law; exists to fight crime
o Has an international characteradvent of major transnational criminal organizations associated in particular
with drug-trafficking and people-trafficking
o Widely accepted that as societies become more fragmented and large scale organization depersonalizes
relationships and interaction, significant level of self-policing changes
o Spread of industrialization in the 20th century brought about a measure of convergence in police organization
and tactics
o Community policingconstant police presence in the community seeks to build trust and cooperation with the
public; operated in Japan
o fire brigade policingcapacity of police to react to breaches of law when they occur, in the hope that crime
will be prevented by the effectiveness of police response; requires adoption of harder, even paramilitary
tactics, and greater emphasis on technology and arms
o zero tolerance or positive policingbased on broken windows theory; relies on a strategy of strict
enforcement in relation to minor offences in order to reduce levels of serious crime
Political policing
Carried out in accordance with political biases or social prejudices that favor certain groups
more than others; raised by radicals and socialists who dismiss the idea that police forces are
neutral; breeds a culture that is socially authoritarian and politically conservative
May extend beyond civil matters and impact on specifically political disputes
Level of political policing has increased as societies have become more complex and
fragmented
All crime is political
Civil liberties have been compromised through the emergence of a national security state
Civil liberty: private sphere of existence that belongs to the citizen, not the state
Police State state that relies on a system of arbitrary and indiscriminate policing in which civil liberties are routinely
abused; operates outside a legal framework and is accountable to neither the courts nor the general public; have
totalitarian features; instrument to instill fear and intimidation; police force acts as a private army and in the interests
of a ruling elite
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
International security: conditions in which the mutual survival and safety of the states is secured through measures
taken to prevent aggression; central position in the broader academic discipline of international relations
State sovereignty in international realm implies disorder and possibly chaos
Transnational terrorism
Terrorism had a nationalist orientation(post-1945 period)
It has acquired a transnational, even global dimension.
Transnational terrorism is generally associated with the advance of globalizationtakes advantage of increased cross-
border flows of people, goods, money, technology, and ideascatastrophic terrorism or hyper-terrorism
3 reasons
o An increased emphasis has been placed on terrorist tactics that are particularly difficult to defend against,
notably suicide terrorism
o Potential scope and scale of terrorism has greatly increased as a result of modern technology
o Modern terrorists not only have access to weapons of mas destruction but also have a greater willingness to
use them
3 main counter-terrorism strategies:
o Revision and strengthening of arrangement for state security- extending legal powers to govt
o Use of force-based or repressive counter-terrorism war on terror
o Use of political deals to encourage terrorists to abandon violence by drawing them into a process of
negotiation and diplomacy
NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION
Nuclear ageborn on August 6, 1945 when the USA dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima
Issue of nuclear proliferation being at the forefront of international security
Cold warfirst nuclear age
second nuclear agemore troubling than the first
Rogue state- foreign policy is a threat to neighboring states
HUMAN SECURITY
Human security: refers to the security of individuals, rather than states; recast the concept of security by taking on
board the idea of human development; takes account of non-military sources of insecuritylack of an assured basic
income, inadequate access to basic food and environmental degradation within the international security agenda
Encouraged the international community to assume a more interventionist stancegreater willingness to undertake
humanitarian interventions since early 1990s
Criticisms:
o Human security has deepened and widened the concepts of security to such an extent that it has become
virtually meaninglessfrom freedom from fear to freedom from want
o May create false expectations about the international communitys capacity to eradicate violence and
insecurity