The concept of security

At the request of the British Government, the UN Security Council debated climate change for the first time earlier in 2007.

Environmentalists and some policy-makers--including the British Foreign Secretary (who brought the topic to the Security Council)--tend to agree that it makes sense to frame climate change as a security issue. For political scientists and analysts this matter is more ambiguous. What is security from a conceptual and analytical perspective?

The traditional definition of security can be described as the absence of organized violence. There is much debate on whether the concept of security is widening and/or deepening. For example, Joseph Nye uses a wider definition: national security is the “absence of threat to major values.”

Rising sea levels, increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters and other effects of climate change may cost more human lives than some traditional security threats. Moreover, rising sea levels could destroy physical assets in coastal areas on a large scale, especially in poor countries which lack the economic capacity to adapt. Considering the potential loss of human lives and economic assets as a result of climate change, there is something to be said for a wider concept of security.

However, others argue that security and conflict should not be linked to climate change, as there is little empirical evidence establishing a clear link between climate change and conflict. It is also pointed out, that connecting conflicts such as the one in Darfur with climate change "lets tyrannical governments off the hook" too easily.

While the working group found a broader conception of security more convincing, the debate will continue.

More conceptual thinking on the definition of security can be found here.

BALDWIN, D.A. 2001, "The concept of security", Review of International Studies, vol. 23, no. 01, pp. 5-26.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=73035
(excellent article by Princeton political scientist David Baldwin; gated version, but well worth obtaining)

SECURITY AS AN ANALYTICAL CONCEPT by Czesław Mesjasz
http://www.afes-press.de/pdf/Hague/Mesjasz_Security_concept.pdf
(publicly available)

Tarry, S. 1999, "Deepening and Widening: An Analysis of Security Definitions in the 1990s", Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, Fall 1999.
http://www.ciaonet.org/olj/jmss/jmss_1999/v2n1/jmss_v2n1c.html
(publicly available)