Denise Garcia

Humanitarian security regimes

This article introduces a novel concept, humanitarian security regimes, and enquires under what conditions they arise and what is distinctive about them. Humanitarian security regimes are driven by altruistic imperatives aiming to prohibit and restrict behaviour, impede lethal technology or ban categories of weapons through disarmament treaties; they embrace humanitarian perspectives that seek to prevent civilian casualties, precluding harmful behavior, protecting and ensuring the rights of victims and survivors of armed violence. The article explores how these regimes appear in the security area, usually in opposition to the aspirations of the most powerful states. The existing regimes literature has mostly taken a functional approach to analyzing cooperation, lacks a humanitarian hypothesis and does not explore the emergence of new regimes in the core area of security. The author argues that in the processes of humanitarian security regime-making, it is the national interest that is restructured to incorporate new normative understandings that then become part of the new national security aspirations. This article intends to fill this gap and its importance rests on three reasons. First, security areas that were previously considered to be the exclusive domain of states have now been the focus of change by actors beyond the state. Second, states have embraced changes to domains close to their national security (e.g. arms) mostly cognizant of humanitarian concerns. Third, states are compelled to re-evaluate their national interests motivated by a clear humanitarian impetus. Three conditions for the emergence of humanitarian security regimes are explained: marginalization and delegitimization; multilevel agency, and reputational concerns.

The climate security divide: bridging human and national security in Africa

National security is traditionally considered to have two dimensions : national defence against external aggressors and internal security against domestic enemies. States therefore pursue weapons and alliances to attain security with military procurement being an integral part of the pursuit of national security. Climate change has modified this state of affairs because it poses unique challenges to the regional security of Africa, and to general security on a global scale : it is a non-temporal threat, with no clearly defined parameters, and cannot be tackled by military means. In addition, it threatens not only the security of a state but the security of communities or entire portions of a states population. It is therefore a risk to both national and human security. The advent of nuclear weapons has dramatically changed international relations in the 20th century and modified security relations amongst nations. Now climate change processes are redefining security in the 21st century. The security implications for Africa are the most dramatic and urgent. This paper explores the climate divide produced by climate change processes, particularly with regard to consequences of and effects on national and human security. To complement this analysis, two areas of security are examined, the first being the relationship between climate change and conflict and the second the security stressors in Africa that compound climate change and imperil security. In conclusion, the climate change scenario in Africa is linked to the pursuit of energy, conservation of forests and resolution of conflicts. The author also situates the African challenges in the multilateral processes of climate change.

Not yet a democracy: establishing civilian authority over the security sector in Brazil – lessons for other countries in transition

Brazil is considered one of the more successful examples of democratic transition and consolidation in the developing world; and one of the fastest developing and emerging countries. This article contends that Brazil is not yet a fully established democracy, because it lacks the proper civilian checks and balances ensuring full authority over the armed forces, police and secret services. There are five main reasons for this: first, the Constitution does not provide a generalised guide for the institution of civilian oversight. Second, a change of cultural perceptions vis-à-vis the security sector entities is needed. Third, piecemeal rather than holistic or comprehensive legal and institutional transformation has occurred, with little civilian oversight of the armed forces. Fourth, the large structures still held by each of the armed forces require re-articulation and fundamental transformation. Finally, there is no fully fledged civil society participation in security sector life through the media and academia. These problems weaken democracy in Brazil. The course of democratisation in Brazil and the role the security sector played in the transition are examined before discussion of some of the more recent legal and political developments in the security sector, as part of the democratic consolidation. The conclusion presents insights from Brazil’s experience and lessons for states facing similar transition challenges.

Developing indicators for evaluating the national implementation of regional law on arms in Africa

The spread of arms and the resulting armed violence undermine good governance in Africa more than in any other continent. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Eastern African states, and the Economic Community of Western Africa States (ECOWAS) are advancing towards a regional approach to tackling the scourge of small arms proliferation and have enacted legally binding instruments in this regard. The main reason for the subregional approach is that Africa is the worst-hit region in the world by unrestrained arms availability. This has devastating consequences that imperil human security and threaten the continents achievement of development goals.

Introduction: Mediation and Negotiation in the Global South

The practice of international mediation is widely recognized as essential for international peace and security, and its advantages have been extensively acknowledged. It is also an integral component of international negotiation and the peaceful settlement of disputes. Nevertheless, most of the governmental and non-governmental actors involved in international mediation processes come from predominantly Northern countries. Very few states and civil society institutions from the Global South are engaged in international mediation initiatives or have invested in improving their national mediation capacities. Looking into the future, the involvement of the South in these efforts is needed more than ever. World leaders, from the North and the Global South need to revitalize principled commitments and allow great negotiators to come to the fore to reverse deadlocked and perilous situations in the search for peace and prosperity.

Explaining Global Norms: The Case of Negotiations on Restraining Conventional Arms

International norms are central to world politics and they set boundaries for what is deemed commonly accepted behavior. The literature has not effectively explained the rise of new norms through negotiation and how actors from the Global South have played active roles, especially in the complex areas of developing security norms. This article argues that norm-making is not a unidirectional movement or phenomenon, but rather a highly circuitous process. The circuitous norm building model accounts for an increasing connectedness among domestic and regional/international levels in norm building in Global South and North countries.

Preventive Action in World Politics

In only a few instances in international relations, states anticipate major problems and address them before they become disastrous: negotiating and creating new international norms to avert human and financial loss. One example is the Protocol banning laser weapons that can permanently blind. It was created in the mid-1990s before the weapons were fully operational and set a powerful norm that banned their future development. With new evolving technologies that have unparalleled capacity to harm and maim, such as fully autonomous weapons systems (killer robots), it is imperative that states take preventive action and create new multilateral agreements to cope with problems yet to materialize. This article aims to initiate the discussion of when states act preventively to avert major future problems. It advances three initial explanatory propositions on preventive multilateralism in areas of ‘commonly perceived global dimension of future potential harm’ to improve states’ security dilemmas; based upon reputation and humanitarian, material concerns, and national security, and presents the initial discussion toward a world politics of prevention.

Arms restraint and regional international law making: the case of the Economic Community of West African States

Former President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali asked the UN Secretary-General to send a mission to Mali in 1993 to assess the situation caused by the widespread availability of weapons in that country. This historic visit gave rise to a series of national, regional and international efforts to contain arms proliferation.