Last year I contributed an article to an edited volume by Michael Tanji. I am pleased to announce that an updated version of that article has been republished in this month’s Current Intelligence. Here is a preview:
After the Cold War, attempts were made to expand the concept of security into new areas including economic, societal, and health security. The concept of human security has made particular headway. Human security was first posited in the 1994 United Nations Human Development Report and argues security must be redefined in terms of the individual rather than the state. The report lists a number of threats to individuals from famine to environmental destruction. However, while human security’s expanded definition has been useful, it is unnecessary in the present discussion. Infectious diseases are also threats in state-centric notions of national security. Diseases can weaken the capacity of militaries in developing states where Western nations have significant enough national interest to respond to internal, external, and regional threats. Securing these states would place additional burdens on resources, but the global risk from new and reemerging infectious diseases continues to rise in the 21st century, with significant implications for global and regional security.
Christopher R. Albon is a political science Ph.D. specializing in armed conflict, public health, human security, and health diplomacy.
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