Security Webs and 21st Century Threats

This book introduces a new framework of Security Webs, which unifies the traditional state security approach with the human security approach, and applies this framework to emerging security concerns in the 21st century.

Security Webs offers a framework to examine security threats, responses, and second- and third-order consequences across a range of actors, and the structure to draw in existing findings, theories, and other frameworks into a universal and holistic approach to security. At its core, it clarifies the interconnected nature of security across time and space. Borrowing the concept of ‘food webs’ from the field of ecology, which maps out how animals and plants gain energy and food, the Security Webs framework allows for an examination of the security of an actor, be it a nation-state, non-state actor or an individual, where each actor gains strength and security but likewise is also threatened. The book profiles several of the emerging security threats, and illustrates how the Security Webs framework can help us study these; these threats include climate change, weak state capacity and political extremism, which all pose significant threats to states, non-state actors, and individuals alike. Bridging the divide between the traditionalist and the human security camps, the book embraces the complexity that is international security and offers a framework applicable to every actor, but also, when applied, creates a clear picture of security threats and arrangements.

This book will be of interest to students of security studies, human security, environmental security and International Relations.