Glossary on Security Policy

What is security?

Security is normally defined as an absence of threats to a certain object, for example the absence of threats to a person.

Traditionally, within international politics, policymakers have focused on the security of the state, primarily secured by military forces and military action. Since 1994, this has changed. This year, the UNDP Human Development Report brought another type of security to the forefront of security politics: human security. Human security essentially is defined as humans living in freedom from fear and freedom from want. In order to reach human security, much more is necessary – a person not only being free from foreign intervention, for example, but being provided with enough food and not facing domestic violence.

Today, a large number of phenomena are connected to security politics. Pandemics, for example, have in recent years been identified as a security risk just as climate change. Framing new topics as part of security politics is called “securitisation”. As security issues often are perceived as imminent threats that need to be addressed immediately, by securitising certain topics, they can often be addressed faster and at times without much discussion. Experts have warned that by securitising topics, dangers for complex democratic processes that often take more time to include many perspectives and form compromises may arise. It is  important to question whether newly identified security issues are, indeed, threats to security (e.g. aspects of climate change as security issues) or only being framed as such even though they do not present immediate security threats (as e.g. in many debates on migration).

What is violence?

If talking about violence, we often mean direct, physical violence, using force with the intention of harming, hurting, or killing somebody else. In addition to this direct violence, Johan Galtung, a peace researcher, has identified another type of violence: structural violence. He argues that violence cannot only result from people, but also from social structures or social institutions. Colonial violence, for example, was not necessarily attributable to a person but harmed and killed as much as direct violence. This is also true for present-day forms of structural discrimination (e.g. based on gender, sexuality, or race).

What is peace?

Just as with security and violence, there are several concepts of what peace is. Most commonly, peace is defined as the absence of violence. The absence of direct violence is called “negative peace” – there is no direct, physical harm. The absence of direct and structural violence is called positive peace. “Positive” means that there is not only the absence of direct violence, but more than that – if structural violence is absent, people will be able to live a fulfilled live and realise their hopes and wishes. Today, most organisations such as the UN strive for positive peace, not just the absence of direct violence.

What are armed conflicts? Is there a difference between war and armed conflict?

Conflicts in their most basic sense are interactions of at least two actors that have incompatible preferences or positions. Incompatible means that their wishes or positions cannot be aligned without one actor making a compromise or changing its position – they cannot both be realised at the same time. Conflicts as such are normal to society and important in democracies. But if they are fought using violence, theybecome problematic.

Armed conflicts are conflicts in which actors use or threaten the use of violence to influence a situation. For further terms that are often used in the context of armed conflict, see this glossary of the European parliament.

Not every armed conflict is a war. In international law, a war takes place between two states. If non-state actors are involved, this is defined as an internal or internationalised armed conflict. Different rules of international law apply to wars and armed conflicts. Aside from this legal perspective, wars are often defined as armed conflict with high intensity. The most common definition of war says that they are armed conflicts with at least 1000 killed combatants per year (simplified, combatants are soldiers). Others such as the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research (HIIK) do not set an arbitrary number of people killed, but define wars as being part of a spectrum of armed conflict types.

What role does the UN play in maintaining international peace and security?

According to the Charter of the United Nations (UN), the founding document of the UN, the UN has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. This means that the UN is the first actor that is responsible for preventing and addressing armed conflict and other threats to international peace.

Within international relations, the use of force is prohibited. States are supposed to settle conflicts with peaceful means such as diplomacy. There are only two cases in which the use of force is allowed: If a state is attacked and needs to defend itself (self-defence) or if the Security Council of the United Nations (UNSC) allows for the use of force.

The UNSC is the central organ of the UN responsible for peace and security. There are 15 members of the UNSC – five have permanent seats (the so-called P5: China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the US) and ten are elected. If there is a break of peace, the UNSC may take certain action. This action is specified in the UN Charter in chapter VI and VII. If the UNSC detects a break of peace or the threat of that, it can either propose peaceful measures such as mediation or the use of so-called “coercive measures” (e.g. sanctions or mandating an UN-peacekeeping mission). UN-peacekeeping missions, , then may provide security and political support to countries in conflict or post-conflict situations. They must have the consent of the country where they are supposed to take place, need to be impartial (so not being on the side of one conflict actor), and their personnel may only use force in self-defence, defence of the mandate, or to protect civilians if this is authorised by the UNSC.

Which law applies within conflicts and for whom?

Generally speaking, in conflicts, humanitarian law applies. Humanitarian law  does not specify whether a conflict is legitimate, but defines which rules need to be fulfilled during armed conflict, for example how civilians need to be protected or what kinds of arms may be used. More information on international law can be found at the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent’s (ICRC) A-Z on international law.

What can international courts do if leaders or states take action that goes against international law?

If international law is violated, state and non-state actors can condemn this openly or try to negotiate a situation in which this law then again is respected. In addition, courts can be used to find out whether international law was violated and, if so, can pass judgement on states and individual people.

The court that is responsible for states is the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It is part of the UN-system; its independent judges are elected by the UN General Assembly and the UNSC. The ICJ has the tasks of clarifying legal disputes brought before it by states and of issuing expert opinions in accordance with international law.

The court responsible for individual’s actions is the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was founded in 1998 and is not part of the UN-system, which is why not all UN-members are part of the ICC (e.g. the US). The ICC may adjudicate (which means passing judgement) on certain crimes that were committed on the territory of member states or by their citizens. It includes four types of crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression. More information on these crimes and the ICC can be found on its website.

Which regional organisations are involved in keeping peace?

Next to the Security Council of the United Nations (UNSC), regional organisations are important in keeping international peace and reacting to breaches of peace or threats to it. The UN-Charter explicitly states that the UNSC and these regional organisations are supposed to work together (chapter 8). Not all organisations focus only on security politics; some work on way more topics than that, such as the EU, and some are not clearly mandated to work on security politics, but need to do so due to political realities, such as the Artic Council. Some regional organisations include the following ones (in alphabetical order).

• Arctic Council
• Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
• African Union (AU)
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
• European Union (EU)
• League of Arab States
• North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
• Organisation of American States (OAS)
• Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)