Human Security and the UN: A Critical History

How 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? Neil MacFarlane and Yuen Foong Khong tackle these
questions by analyzing historical and contemporary debates about what is to be
secured. From Westphalia through the 19th century, the state's claim to be the
object of security was sustainable because it offered its subjects some measure of
protection. The state's ability to provide security for its citizens came under
heavy strain in the 20th century as a result of technological, strategic, and
ideological innovations. By the end of World War II, efforts to reclaim the security
rights of individuals gathered pace, as seen in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and a host of United Nations covenants and conventions. MacFarlane and Khong
highlight the UN's work in promoting human security ideas since the 1940s, giving
special emphasis to its role in extending the notion of security to include
development, economic, environmental, and other issues in the 1990s.