Human Security @ 20: Past Experiences and Future Prospects

Context and aims

Since the concept of Human Security was introduced in 1994, it has informed many researches and practices and its meaning and methods of implementation have extensively been discussed across disciplines and policy areas: social sciences, business and management, law, logistics, development and environmental studies, and health.  However, the idea that we should be free from want and free from fear still stands in sharp contrast with everyday insecurities experienced by ordinary people and constituencies at risk.

Human security is originally understood to be the aggregate of the absence of economic, environmental, political, communal, personal, nutritious, and health threats. This complexity – inherent in the human security concept and practice – presents both a challenge and a danger. The challenge for academics, policy makers and practitioners is to transcend disciplines and narrow world-views, in order to deliver a more profound understanding of these complexities. The danger lies in the continued reliance on usual science and disparate approaches to knowledge generation.

This 3-day, international conference aspires to take stock of two decades of conceptualizing and practicing human security. It seeks to promote new approaches to understand and address the interdependent threats to human dignity.  The conference emphasizes the idea of human security as an instrument of change, adverting its holistic character and its use as a methodological tool.

The Conference will have an academic and a practical dimension, and is intended to feed into academic and policy programs for advancing human security and its discourse.

We call for panel and paper proposals that discuss the theme of the conference.

Format and themes

Panel proposals should include: a title, the panel’s subject (150 words), and 3 to 4 paper abstracts (200 words each).

Paper proposals should include: a title and a 300-word abstract.

Panels and papers – conceptual, empirical and applied – are invited. These can address such themes as: 

1.    The relation between two or more of the human securities identified in the 1994 Human Development Report

2.    The relation between the Freedom from Fear and the Freedom from Want

3.    The role of non-state actors in safeguarding human security

4.    Regional applications of the concept e.g. EU, ASEAN, AU

5.    Humanitarian aid and humanitarian intervention

6.    Migrants and refugees: rights, displacement and protection

7.    The role of social media in human security concerns

8.    Human security in relation to globalization and global governance

9.    Human security and gender based violence; human security and gender and/or feminist perspectives

10.Human security and outsourcing

11.The role of business in human security: effective partnerships, corporate responsibility, and accountability

12.Human security and Global Impact

13.Globalization, development and human security

14.Human security and climate change

Panel and paper proposals can be uploaded at: http://www.social-sciences.brookes.ac.uk/conferences/2014/human-security-at-20/submission/

We intend to publish a selection of the papers in the form of an edited volume or special issue of a journal.

Program Committee:

Prof. Math Noortmann: Dept. of Social Sciences and School of Law, Oxford Brookes University

Prof. Barrie Axford: Director of the Institute for Global Politics, Economy and Society, Oxford Brookes University

Dr. Juliette Koning: Business School, Oxford Brookes University

Dr. Cedric Ryngaert: School of Law, Utrecht University

Prof. David Sanderson: Director of the Center for Development and Emergency Practice, Oxford Brookes University

For more details see: http://www.social-sciences.brookes.ac.uk/conferences/2014/human-security-at-20/