Human security becomes prime in the wake of spreading social discontent

That human security is the most pressing priority for the world is being underscored by no less an international organization of repute than the UNDP. The disquieting information it has for us is as follows: More than six in seven people around the world admit to feeling insecure. This has been the case even before the Covid outbreak.

The UNDP discloses the above and more findings in a recent report titled, ‘New Threats to Human Security in the Anthropocene’. Among other things, the report states that people’s sense of security is low in almost every country, including the wealthiest. The report underscores that despite some countries reporting exceptional achievements in the socio-economic sphere many of them are admitting to even ‘greater anxiety’ now than 10 years ago.

Governments everywhere are obliged to ponder on these findings long and deep with a view to working out their policy implications. If the popular contention among most Southern states bent on getting on to the growth bandwagon, particularly since the early nineties, was that national or state security should be their foremost priority, the above- mentioned UNDP report ought to make them think otherwise. They need to think awhile on the fact that despite their apparently achieving internal stability by attaching foremost priority to the application of strong law-and-order measures, in most cases in the face of internal discord, their peoples are anxiety-prone and deeply unhappy with life. How will the world’s governments in particular cut this perennial Gordian Knot?

In other words, wherein lies happiness? Needless to say, the social sciences do not have answers to these centuries-long, rankling questions. Basically, these questions are central to philosophy and religion and need to be seen as beyond the competence of the scientist, regardless of his field of enquiry.

However, states would need to probe as to how they could at least alleviate the anxieties of their peoples, if not root them out completely, and in this endeavour the social scientist and psychologist could prove their worth to a degree and be of some service to governments. If the latter are in earnest when they claim commitment to mitigating the fears and anxieties of their citizens, they would draw on the services of the mentioned personnel in a ‘structured’ or systematic fashion.

For the political scientist and economist, though, the contemporary upsurge and pervasiveness of social discontentment should prove curious and thoroughly thought-provoking. The epochal moment was the collapse of the Cold War which, in turn, came with the demise of the USSR in 1991. The feeling was widespread, at the popular and social elite levels worldwide, that totalitarian communism was seen an end to and that democracy and the free enterprise system had decisively triumphed under the aegis of the US and its Western allies. In other words, the capitalist West had emerged victorious over the communist East.

However, this euphoria was short-lived because just a couple of years or less into largely capitalist-led development in Russia, for example, sections of the people were reportedly beginning to look back with nostalgia to Soviet times when their basic needs were looked after by the state, though with a degree of oppression, whereas now economic and material pressures had increased several-fold and they were ‘no-one’s baby’.

One is compelled to draw the inference in the face of these developments that economic globalization that came in the wake of the collapse of communism has aggravated the fears and insecurities of ordinary people everywhere rather than delivered to them any relief from the pressures of living. However, in view of the UNDP disclosures we need to be skeptical of the popular belief that substantial wealth provides the security people yearn for.

In other words, neither communism nor capitalism brings enduring contentment to people. These questions ought to prod intelligentsias the word over to assess their socio-economic and political systems with a view to outlining the world views and social arrangements that could minimize the restlessness and anxiety of contemporary humans. In intellectual terms, this is an uphill endeavour but one that must be undertaken.

While it must be left to philosophers and theologians to probe the final meaning of life, what one could gather from contemporary studies on mental illnesses is that it is the disconnect among individuals, communities and even countries that aggravates emotional disorders of people, such as depression and anxiety.

Apparently, states and other responsible sections need to go very much beyond providing ‘Bread’ to the people, though food and other basic needs are central to human security. Emotional bonds among individuals and communities need to be fostered and strengthened as well as a matter of priority. Considering these requirements, there is little doubt that the current pandemic has worsened the sense of desolation and helplessness in people that leads to depression and other serious mental disorders, since it has had the effect of literally distancing people from each other.

The UNDP prescription ought to be accepted that people’s solidarity across national borders should be built and strengthened as a means of alleviating the silent suffering of people. But war and conflict could only greatly aggravate such mental torment. A case in point is Afghanistan where people in the millions are going through an unbearable winter of discontent right now. The stark truth is that the people of Afghanistan are starving to death. The international community cannot stand idly by any longer.

In the same breath it needs to be said that ongoing wars and the triggering of new ones could only aggravate the haplessness and torment of ordinary people. From this viewpoint the hope of humanists is that no war would break out over the Ukraine. The antagonists to the conflict would do well to take stock of the enormous suffering such an armed conflict would bring about for the peoples concerned who are unlikely to be in favour of war.

The antagonists ought to take their minds back to the neighbouring Balkans where nationalist projects by power-hungry political leaders around 20 years ago not only resulted in the complete break-up of the region but brought immeasurable harm to the people. The Balkans are yet to recover from the grievous harm the wars of those times brought about. The wars left behind traumatized communities that are continuing to weep for their dead.