• Security concepts

Security concepts

This paper explores the changing trends in violence over time. With the ultimate goal of strengthening governance of the security sector and assisting in meaningful reform, it looks at what violence is, dimensions of new forms of violence and what its implications for security actors are.

The authors argue that security, which had almost disappeared as a key issue from the international political agenda in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, is back on that agenda once again. However, the players in that game are today no longer necessarily the same as during the Cold War, nor are their priorities. The paper also warns that it is unclear which of the factors that appear today as important will prove ephemeral and which will hold.

Key implications for actors include:

•  development, security, and human rights are intrinsically linked issues
• democracy promotion as the main strategic tool, puts the cart in front of the ox. Development cooperation is, if seen in isolation, not the answer
• the time is clearly ripe for integrated, strategic approaches that can claim local, regional and global ownership and are able to offer a coherent answer to the phenomenon of a shifting face of violence
• if confronted by a growing potential for violence, we need a fully integrated approach in our response, not only at the strategic level, but also at the operational and tactical levels.
  

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