Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security Oct. 2014 | Page 118

Applications in
conflict prevention
In The Palestinian territories and the Philippines,
some have taken up arms to defend themselves
against violence. This approach has sometimes
triggered retaliation and has militarised
communities, creating a new set of security
challenges. Both bottom-up empowerment
approaches and top-down protective security
strategies should be complementary, so that they
contribute to rather than diminish each other. The
interconnected and multidimensional nature of
human security also necessitates complementarity
among interconnected sectors, for example, natural
resource management and economic policy.
Democratising security
Human security encompasses both an outcome
and a process. The outcome is the preservation of
citizen life, livelihood, and dignity. The process is a
democratic one that requires engaging local people
in dialog ue on their security perceptions, needs,

Successful human
security strategies
mediate social
conflicts and generate
new social capital.

responsibility not just to provide for welfare, or
representation, but – first and foremost – to ensure
the security of their citizens. This is arguably the
basic compact or contract that led humanity out
of the Hobbesian anarchy.”4 A similar conclusion
is made in the chapter on Ukraine, which suggests
that Ukraine needs a modern ‘demand-driven’
security approach that puts police in the role of
service providers rather than armed semi-military
forces.

Expanding the traditional security discourse

By democratising security, human security
strategies also require the transformation of
social relationships beyond the citizen-state
relationship. Successful human security strategies
mediate social conflicts and generate new social
capital. The citizen-led biking initiative started
by activists in northern Mexico is generating
new civic relationships by demonstrating public
ownership of public spaces and building public
trust and respect. In the Philippines, tribes have
overcome longstanding violence through a series of
reconciliation ceremonies that rekindle traditional
kinship alliances. Civic collaboration has enabled
people to engage government more effectively and
promote more holistic approaches to deep-seated
security problems. Increased civic collaboration
has empowered government to more effectively
address the needs of previously polarized social
groups. Thus, human security strategies also enable
the state to meet diverse security needs more
equitably. Democratising security requires that the
state and civil society increase collaboration and
responsiveness to a more diverse set of groups.

Rather than proposing a wholly new approach,
inclusive security imports concepts and approaches
more familiar in governance and development to
reframe and expand traditional security discourse.
People-centred, participatory approaches are
widely accepted in the development sector. For
example, the World Bank through their ‘Voices of
the Poor’ project in 1999 conducted a large scale
survey of more than 60,000 poor individuals from
sixty countries in order to make economic and
development policies more effective and peoplecentred. Some of their recommendations run
parallel to those advocated for in a human security
approach, including a focus on protection and
empowerment, and strengthening the citizen-state
relationship. In their conclusion, ‘An Empowering
Approach to Poverty Reduction’, authors Deepa
Narayan and Patti Patesch advocate
promoting equal and effective relationships
between poor people and the state. Fostering
such partnership processes requires a dual focus
on actions that, on the one hand, improve state
capacity to grasp poor people’s needs and […]
strengthen poor people’s capacity to mobilize,
articulate and defend their interests, and hold
government accountable.5

When applied to the traditional security sphere,
human security principles have the potential to
transform security policies and approaches by
involving affected individuals and communities in
redesigning security goals and strategies. As this
publication argues, more inclusive security processes
change security outcomes. Inclusive policymaking
can yield innovative solutions that protect
individuals and their communities more effectively.

and solutions. Human security calls for opening up
security policy formulation to greater democratic
participation and to greater accountability to
the rule of law and international human rights.
Advancing democracy in the security sphere by
empowering citizens to participate in public policy
and hold the state accountable is the primary
way that human security strategies transform the
relationship of the citizen to the state.

Gendered security
The practical application of a people-centred
approach in the security field can learn from recent
global efforts to address women’s specific security
needs and the development of gender-sensitive
approaches. The UN Security Council Resolution
(SCR) 1325 on Women Peace and Security is built
on a strategy of prevention, participation, and
protection, which are also key human security
principles. By emphasising consultative processes
and women’s participation in formulating security
policies, SCR 1325 provides an opportunity to
ensure women’s participation in public dialogue.
Women’s voices are usually missing from official
state policymaking and discussions: “Precisely
because states and state security systems are
gendered, women’s experiences and analysis are not
often captured in the dominant discourse.”6 Cultural
and psychological barriers, particularly in traditional
societies, often prevent women from participating
in community decision-making or in disclosing
their experiences of gender-based violence. Such
obstacles reinforce the need for a people-centred
approach and an emphasis on empowerment to
ensure women’s participation.f

Inclusive policymaking can
yield innovative solutions that
protect individuals and their
communities more effectively.

Such people-centred approaches are increasingly
identified as best practices in food security, health
care access, and community development. Human
security advocates for a similar approach in the
security sector, applicable both in the analysis of
security threats and in the design of intervention
strategies. While innovative case studies of peoplecentred security strategies can be harvested from
civil society organisations in the peacebuilding field
across the world,e these continue to be isolated

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In addition, gender advocates have also made
great strides in developing gender-sensitive
approaches to conflict analysis and programming.7
Such approaches go beyond a focus on women
to identify the ways that socialised gender roles
support cultural values that condone or enable

e See for example the mapping of such initiatives conducted by GPPAC
and the Alliance for Peacebuilding under the Civil Society and Security Sector
Engagement for Human Security pro ject, and the People’s Peacemaking
Perspectives Project implemented by Conciliation Resources and Saferworld.

Some argue that human security is a logical
extension of democracy and human rights. The
Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control
of Armed Forces (DCAF) argues that human
security is the logical extension of the basic liberal
democracy paradigm, where state legitimacy
is based on the ability of the state to protect
fundamental individual rights. “States have
118 stories of Human Security | the Citizen-State Relationship

approaches yet to be accepted as ‘best practices’
by many governments and intergovernmental
organisations.

f While this publication focuses on women’s security with regards to
gender, it recognises that gender-specific forms of violence and related
security needs go beyond women as a group, and merit their own analysis
and people-centred solutions.
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