Description
Book SynopsisHow 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? This book tackles these questions by analyzing historical and contemporary debates about what is to be secured.
Trade ReviewThis is one of at least 14 projected volumes commissioned by the UN Intellectual History Project, dedicated to documenting the history of ideas central to the development of that organization. Here the focus is on human security, dealing with individuals rather than the traditional concentration on states. Most regard the idea of human security as a recent innovation, but the authors do an exemplary job of tracing its origins in early political and social thought. Importantly, they also present cogent analysis on conventional state security, from which one can see how human security issues evolved. With this background, the authors trace how the idea of human security became embedded in the UN through such issues as human rights, the laws of war, and refugees, among others. The latter part of the book is dedicated to a discussion of two dimensions of human security and the UN: human development and protection. Appropriately, one chapter provides a critique of UN actions in the human security area. This is a fine book, even essential for scholars of the UN or security studies in general. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students through practitioners. —— P. F. Diehl, University of Illinois at UrbanaOctober 2006
-- Champaign * Choice *
There are many hard questions related to human security, and MacFarlane and Khong cannot answer them all. But they have done much in this must-read tour de force to elevate human security to the most rigorous analysis for the purpose of revamping international public policy. As such, policy makers, analysts, and academics alike will find this book of exceptional value.
* Human Rights & Human Welfare *
Table of ContentsForeword by Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly, and Thomas G. Weiss
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. The Archaeology of Human Security
1. The Prehistory of Human Security
2. The UN and Human Security during the Cold War
3. The Evolving Critique of National Security
Part II. The Emergence of Human Security
4. The UN and Human Security: The Development Dimension
5. The UN and Human Security: The Protection Dimension
6. Human Security and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups
7. Human Security and the UN: A Critique
Conclusion
Notes
Index
About the Authors
About the United Nations Intellectual History Project
