Broadening Asia's Security Discourse and Agenda

The security discourse is dominated by the traditional state-centric paradigm which privileges the territorial defence of a country against armed attack from foreign countries. For most people in Asia - a continent that counts for more than half of the world's population - the greatest threats to security come from disease, hunger, environmental contamination, crime and localized violence. For some, a still greater threat may come from their own government itself, rather than from an 'external' adversary. The citizens of states that are 'secure' according to the concept of traditional security can beperilously insecure in terms of their everyday reality. Going beyond military threats and state-centric analysis, this book demonstrates the importance of a broad security agenda that incorporates political, economic, social and environmental dimensions as well as the many linkages between them. It applies non-traditional security perspectives to a range of human challenges across Asia, in the hope of encouraging a security discourse where humans are at the vital core. It also explores the potential practical and conceptual benefits of non-traditional security thinking in a continent beset by both conventional and non-traditional security challenges.