How violence and terrorism impact on societies has largely been ignored in mainstream security studies. However, in the post-cold war order, endemic violence has become part of life of people across the world, more so in South Asia. Within the current debates in security studies and efforts to make security conceptions more people-centred, the issue of violence finds some primacy.
The book brings a gender sensitive approach into the discourse and practice on human security in Bangladesh and Pakistan. It provides an intellectual understanding of the concept of gendered human security through a synthesis of academic discourse and scholarship, good practices and policies. It also contributes to the building of standards and norms of measuring human security. In doing so, the book ventures into developing a conceptual basis for the rationale behind the need for a separate framework for women's insecurity.
Small States and Regional Stability in South Asia is a study of the status and role of small states in international affairs, particularly in the region. The book highlights the constraints and potentials of small states in contributing to regional peace, security, stability, and development. It presents the perspectives of the small states on the issues of nuclearisation in South Asia, globalisation and economic security, the global war on terrorism, common solutions to common problems, and democracy as a conflict management mechanism.
The security infrastructure in Bangladesh is more a product of default rather than design. Adhoc and piecemeal responses of the government come about from time to time, following persistent media outcry and pervasive civil society criticism relating to specific issues or breaches and events. It is, thus, natural to surmise that no comprehensive National Security Policy exists in Bangladesh. Primacy of holistic security in the development process is now widely recognised.
Despite the efforts by concerned professionals, a void, in the field of security studies in Bangladesh, both traditional and non-traditional, is vivid. This has served as an impetus for the publication of an annual report on national security by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS). This volume is the second one and covers the developments in the year 2008. It offers multidisciplinary and multidimensional analyses of national security to bring out the challenges to security at the national, regional and international levels.
The book identifies the sources and nature of threats to people belonging to ethnic groups and conceptualizes human security in a manner that addresses the inadequacy of the traditional approach. It conducts an analysis on ethnicity- and non-ethnicity-induced human security problems in the CHT of Bangladesh and the Sindh Province of Pakistan, as important areas of human security. This work deals with threats stemming from ethnicity and the resultant conflict thereof in the CHT and in Sindh.
South Asia is undoubtedly a human security deficit region. India too is no exception. This volume is an in-depth study on the human security situation in India. Despite some remarkable achievements in the socio-economic, political and scientific fields, India’s 1.5 billion people suffer from a deep sense of insecurity, marginalization, exclusion, shelterlessness and violence. The thrust of the book is on understanding the human security situation and then exploring the journey ahead towards enhancement of human security in India.
The present volume examines the case for broadening the scope of security by breaking the rigidity brought about by traditional forms of dominant state-centric and military based security concepts and their determining matrices. The main thrust of this study is on three very critical areas, viz., (i) environmental security, (ii) food security and (iii) energy security. It deals with how gains from effective management of human security parameters get translated into enhanced security both at the macro and micro levels.
This book is an endeavour to bring to surface some of the seething problematics which are intricately related to the underlying understandings of human security issues in Pakistan. The book takes the position that human security in this country is high strung on the perilous governance structures, and internal and external policies, which have continued to determine the future of the nation and its people since its inception.
Understanding the state of national security, both traditional and non-traditional, is vital for formulating and implementing national policies in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) has initiated its annual report on national security. The present volume is the third in the series that covers the developments and events in the year 2009. Two earlier volumes in the series dealt with both traditional and non-traditional nature.