Issues of global security often enter U.S. governance discussions in peripheral ways, usually subordinate to considerations of national security. Some citizens may assume that global security and national security are the same thing. National security discussions have a tendency to “drift” in the direction of strategic options for national defense and selection of weapons systems to meet projected threats. They also have a tendency to lean toward the use of military (“hard”) power and unilateral action.
These traditional ways of viewing national security may obscure the many social and cultural issues that arise locally in other areas of the world and impact increasingly complex global relationships. This project starts with the hope of developing a number of conceptual possibilities for global security that might prove helpful to citizens in thinking “outside the box” of traditional national security debates. Some of the questions being discussed include “What are the dimensions of global security? How does changing U.S. power affect them? What forms of governance and institutions might be useful or necessary to global security? And what are the tensions between civilian and military control and approaches?
This project began discussions in the fall of 2009, completed discussions in the fall of 2010, and published the first edition of the discussion report in early 2011.
You can download a copy of this report from our “Discussion Reports” page (also listed in the sidebar to the right), which lists all of our published reports, or, to download a copy directly, you can click on either of the following links: Helping Out (24 pages/3.5 MB) – in English, or Ayudando (24 pages/3.5 MB) in Spanish.
Helping Out: Humanitarian Policy for Global Security
Project Manager – Dennis Boyer
Issues of global security often enter U.S. governance discussions in peripheral ways, usually subordinate to considerations of national security. Some citizens may assume that global security and national security are the same thing. National security discussions have a tendency to “drift” in the direction of strategic options for national defense and selection of weapons systems to meet projected threats. They also have a tendency to lean toward the use of military (“hard”) power and unilateral action.
These traditional ways of viewing national security may obscure the many social and cultural issues that arise locally in other areas of the world and impact increasingly complex global relationships. This project starts with the hope of developing a number of conceptual possibilities for global security that might prove helpful to citizens in thinking “outside the box” of traditional national security debates. Some of the questions being discussed include “What are the dimensions of global security? How does changing U.S. power affect them? What forms of governance and institutions might be useful or necessary to global security? And what are the tensions between civilian and military control and approaches?
This project began discussions in the fall of 2009, completed discussions in the fall of 2010, and published the first edition of the discussion report in early 2011.
You can download a copy of this report from our “Discussion Reports” page (also listed in the sidebar to the right), which lists all of our published reports, or, to download a copy directly, you can click on either of the following links: Helping Out (24 pages/3.5 MB) – in English, or Ayudando (24 pages/3.5 MB) in Spanish.