Securitologia

No 1/2015

Ladislav Hofreiter
University of Žilina, Slovakia

ABOUT SECURITY IN CONTEMPORARY W ORLD1

Introduction

The concept of safety is a frequently used term and it is directly or indirectly associated
with the existence of man as an individual, as well as small and large social groups. The
literature provides a variety of definitions of security, what is a proof of different ap-
proaches to the understanding of the content and meaning of the term. A different
approach to the definition of security is also affected by the reference object: different
definitions are used in defining of human security, different ones in relation to other
national or international security or to the safety of technical devices.

Definition of Security

According to security nature understanding we can classify single approaches as follows

(Hofreiter, 2006):
 Security is a state in which the risks and the threats resulting from them are min-
imized or eliminated.
 Security is a state in which the given object does not feel endangered in term of
its legal interests.
 Security is understood as a complex of social relations governed by the law and
they protect the rights and justified interests of persons, social groups and state.
 Security is judged as the ability of the object, event, process to protect its nature
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and basic characteristics in conditions of deliberately aimed, disruptive and de-

structive activity whether from outside or inside of the object.
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 Security is perceived as system characteristics expressing the system property cre-

ated according to principles of stability, self-regulation and integrity; security is
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1This work has been supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak
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Republic (Project VEGA 1/0175/14).

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DOI: 10.5604/18984509.1184208 ISSN: 1898-4509 ISSN: 2449-7436 online pdf

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 Ladislav Hofreiter

required for each system element, since the destruction of any of the system
elements will result in destruction of the whole system.
 Security is judged as decisive condition (guarantee) of person, social group, state
existence that allows protecting and multiplying their material and cultural wealth.
 Security presents complex of measures for guaranty and protection of living in-
terests of all security objects.
 Security, in its absolute meaning, expresses absence of security risks and threats
towards material and spiritual sphere of existence.
 Security basis is minimization of security risks and threats with tendency of their
elimination.
 Security is category where the security is understood as the admissible danger
margin.
With comity of mentioned approaches we have to state that in term of the man to be
in security, to be secure, to feel secure does not mean to live and exist without danger,
risks and threats.
Security does not mean only absence of security risks and threats but first of all
protection against them.
Security margin of the man, social group, state (hereinafter referred to as objects) will be always the
result of interaction of external and internal security risks and threats and protective properties, abilities
and capabilities of security object.
In the field of national and international security, most often we can meet with
traditional, state-centric approach, presented in Strategic studies and early Security
studies, a multi-sector approach, presented in Critical Security Studies. Within the
Studies there is also presented an approach known as the paradigm of Human Secu-
rity (Table 1 on the next page).
Security of the state, resp. national security generally means the ability of the state
to ensure the protection of its independence, sovereignty, integrity, ensuring its sectorial
essential needs, interests and core values against internal and external threats.
International security is a level of international relations, which ensures the security
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of each state. It is the result of purposeful efforts and activities of the international
community, a set of rules and institutions, focusing on the elimination of international
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armed conflicts, political stability, steady economic growth, minimize the impact of
global issues. International security is the absence of a threat of armed aggression, ex-
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ternal pressures; military as well as non-military (political, economic, economic, cultural,

etc.) in international relations.
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 About Security in Contemporary World

Table 1. Elements of identifying security

Security paradigm Object of reference Object of protection Potential threats

Traditional security The state Integrity of the state Military aggression, nuclear
independence war
military security

Sectoral security Individuals, groups, Military, political, economi- Military and non-military
states, humankind, cal, social, societal, environ-
civilizations mental security

Human security Human being, an Human and civil rights, free- Violence, crime, poverty, re-
individual dom from fear, freedom pression, hunger, disease,
from lack unemployment

Source: The author’s composition.

Human security in its broadest sense is defined as freedom from fear and freedom from lack
(Human Development Report 1994, p. 24). Is identified with the protection of a human
being from threats such as hunger, disease, repression, crime, and protection from ex-
posure to unexpected and harmful effects on a person’s life (natural and other disasters).
Basically it means ensuring conditions for survival of man and perseverance of his dig-
nity in the present conditions and the continuation and development into the future.
The concept of human security is a prerequisite for the expansion of the possibilities of
human choice. The most significant elements of this option is a possibility to live a long
and healthy life, get the education, work, enjoy political freedom and human rights, as
well as make sure that the opportunities and conditions that people have today, they will
have in the future.
In terms of the complex and systematic understanding of security we approach the
defined levels of security with the same seriousness. Each of the levels of security – the
individual level, group, national and international ones – affects partially the safety of
all of the reference objects. Safe individuals make safe social groups, the groups con-
tribute to the security at the national level, states create safe secure international envi-
ronment and vice versa.
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Security is considered as a basic need of each reference object, as a condition of its

existence, development and survival. It is such a state of the security situation and the
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processes affecting this state, which provides favorable conditions for the existence of
the persistence and development of each reference object.
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 Ladislav Hofreiter

Systemic approach to security

Security itself is complicated, internally structured, multifactor and hierarchized phe-

nomenon. Structuralization and hierarchization of security are given by its internal
structuring into subsystems along with their identification in systems of higher level.
These facts are best documented in the table 2.

Table 2. Hierarchical and analytical levels of security

Analytical level of security Reference objects Sectors of security

Geopolitical, political, ecological, military

Global security Noosphere (mankind + biosphere)
etc.

Continents, groups of states, inter- Military, political, economical, ecological,

Regional security
national organizations and pacts informational etc.

Political, military, economical, ecological,

Security of state – national
State demographic, nutritive , scientific-tech-
security
nical etc.

Social, informational, energoinforma-

Group security Social groups, communities
tional, culturological etc.

Social, nutritive, informational, energoin-

Individual security Man
fomational, culturological etc.

Source: The author’s composition.

It is visible that individual security is part of global security level and individual security
will not exist if the global security is not guaranteed. The facts that security includes
various factors (table 2) inevitably make demands upon creation of scientific approach
to theory and practice of the man, social groups, state and mankind security assurance.
It is necessary to define the securitology (Hofreiter, 2006). System approach to com-
plex security requires to integrate knowledge about single hierarchical security levels and
security factors contained in other sciences (natural, social, technical) into new quality
– new integrated science about complex security.
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Global risk of security

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In report Global Risk 2015, a global risk is defined as an uncertain event or condition that, if
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it occurs, can cause significant negative impact for several countries or industries within the next 10
years. Based on this refined definition, 28 global risks were identified and grouped into
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 About Security in Contemporary World

the five customary categories: economic risks, environmental risks, geopolitical risks, societal risks
and technological risks.
The Global Risks Landscape, as defined by the survey, highlights five global risks
that stand out as both highly likely and highly potentially impactful. Interstate conflict
has significantly leaped up both dimensions since 2014, arguably reflecting recent geo-
political conflicts that are fuelling geopolitical and social instability. As last year, con-
cerns about environmental and economic risks remain, in particular around failure of
climate-change adaptation, water crises and unemployment and underemployment re-
flecting concern about how little tangible action has been taken to address them. At the
same time, cyber-attacks remain among the most likely high-impact risks.
Top 5 risks in terms of likelihood include interstate conflict, extreme weather events, failure
of national governance, state collapse or crisis, unemployment and underemployment.
The group of five major risks according to impact include water crisis, spread of infec-
tious diseases, weapons of mass destruction, interstate conflict and failure of climate-change adaptation
(Global Risk 2015).

Asymmetry of security

To clarify the problem, we will accept that asymmetry is unevenness, in equivalence,

disparity, respectively imbalance between parts or aspects of something. We can talk
about asymmetry of security whenever the position of the reference object is not equi-
table, or their security does not depend on their needs and when there is asymmetry of
the safety requirements resulting from the asymmetry of power, influence and interests
of reference objects, or when there is an imbalance between the needs and options for
ensuring security (Hofreiter, 2014).
Perception of complex security of any reference object must be associated with
identifying the structure of security, and its subject and procession dimension. Subject
dimension of security requires that we identify and adequately guarantee all the sectors,
subsystems and subareas which affect the safety of the reference object. The first and
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frequent manifestation of asymmetry in the sphere of security is that all identified sec-
tors , subsystems and subareas of security are not assessed with the same seriousness
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and importance assessed; deliberately or out of ignorance committed by the emergence

of differences in system security. From the system safety characteristics follows, that
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the safety of the reference object will be such a value as is safety value in each sector,
sub-sector or subsystem safety of the reference object.
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 Ladislav Hofreiter

From the of paradigm of security science follows that the safety of any reference
object is a particularly dynamic category, which varies in time depending on the relation-
ship of two factors: risk and vulnerability, respectively on resistance of the reference ob-
ject. In terms of ensuring real security of the reference object is imperative that state
of imbalance between threat and resistance of the object is permanently ensured. This
means that it is permanently ensured a higher level of resistance of the object, or its
system of protection, such as the intensity of impacting threats.

Asymmetry of human security

Asymmetry in human security level exists and is not a new phenomenon. Unequal po-
sition of man is the result of economic, political and professional stratification, which
has evolved with the development of society. To ensure the basic living and cultural
needs access to enough healthy food to medical care, education, adequate financial in-
come for work – it does not always depend on the will of man, but often from his
position in society, from his, or her economic, political, social and professional status.
The same is true in the case of ensuring the safety and protection of man against vio-
lence, and the availability of law enforcement, in respect of his personal, cultural, reli-
gious and ethnic identity and integrity. There are different needs and possibilities to
ensure in the case of a person from higher social classes, are other needs, requirements
and possibilities in a case an unemployed, poor and marginalized man. Especially a high
degree of social inequality, poverty and exclusion are one of the causes of asymmetry
of human security.

Asymmetry of national security

Asymmetry in the field of national security lies in a unlike approach to respecting the
rights of countries to protect and promote their cultural and civilizational values, the
different approach to respect and uphold the rights to freedom of its spiritual and cul-
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tural development, in respect for and protection of ethnic, cultural, religious identity, in
respect the right to protection from the ideological, cultural and political indoctrination
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from outside and underneath.

Comprehensive security and effective protection of its interests in a globalized world
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cannot be provided by any state or existing superpowers. The question of today is: what
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 About Security in Contemporary World

level of security risk can a state afford to accept, while at the same time being able to guarantee its
national interests? (Brzeziński, 2004, p. 31).
In terms of the internal aspect of national security, a manifestation of the asym-
metry are weakness, fragility and instability and state failure, what is associated with
symptoms of these dysfunctions:
 Inability to provide basic services and to meet the basic needs of citizens of the
state.
 Unstable and weak government.
 The continuing state of extreme poverty.
 Lack of control over its own territory.
 High possibility of (renewal of) conflict and outbreak of civil war.
The problem was of weakness, and fragility of states was perceived primarily as an
economic problem; it was demonstrated by indicators, such as formation of GDP, GDP
per capita, income, population, etc. Later geographic, demographic, institutional, and
historical indicators were taken into consideration. Graziella Bertocchi in the article The
empirical determinants of state fragility accepts all the referred set of indicators, but she
stresses institutional factors such as political stability, degree of protection of human
rights and civil liberties as crucial determinants of state failure (Bertocchi, Guerzoni,
2010). Monty G. Marshall and Benjamin R. Cole (2009) developed a methodology by
which it is possible to evaluate the fragility or weakness of particular states.
The groups of indicators can be categorized as follows:
 Safety indicators, to measure engagement or involvement of the state in conflict,
but also the measurement of state violence against the people.
 Political indicators by which to measure political stability, government stability,
but also the degree of public participation in governance, political equality and
discrimination (political violence).
 Economic indicators to reflect the performance of the economy, GDP per cap-
ita, but also the structure of exports and openness of the economy.
 Social indicators, represented by the Human Development Index (Human De-
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velopment Index, HDI) and child mortality rates.

In literature (e.g. Potocki, 2012) or political commentaries we can meet with the notion
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of a bankrupt state (Failed State). American Fund for Peace uses the following char-
acteristics for a bankrupt state:
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 Ladislav Hofreiter

 Loss of physical control over its own territory, or loss of the monopoly on the
use of force in its territory (there are active paramilitary groups, gangs, rebels,
etc.).
 Erosion of the legitimacy of the authority of government to enforce its own
decisions.
 Inability to provide reasonable public services.
 Inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international com-
munity.
A collapse or failure of a state virtually means a total failure of a state in area of ensuring
social, political and economic security. Such a weak or failed state becomes a threat not
only for its citizens, but also for its surroundings.

Asymmetry of international security

We can talk about a satisfactory state of international security when no nation, no state
has concerns about the military attack from external aggression, it can be free of fears
of political or economic coercion aimed against the its free and democratic elections
and decision-making on its own internal matters. Conditions of international security
affects system of international law, the capacities of institutions and organizations of
international security and creating such conditions that no state or small, large or may
be free of fear of an aggression from another state, aimed against the territorial integrity
or political independence. And if such a situation occurs, the state will receive immedi-
ate and real help from other states.
The real state of international security is far from desired. The causes lie in the cur-
rent division of the world, the global inequality in use of system of exclusive safety,
selective enforcement of international law in formal sense of equal access and indivisi-
bility of security.
The factor that has a significant impact on international security, asymmetry is deep-
ening of global inequalities, polarization and stratification of the population of the
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world to globalized rich and the poor (Beck, 2007, p. 71). The world is divided, there
are some facts (George, 2011):
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 the richest 10% owns 85% of the world’s wealth, while the richest 1% own 40%
of the world's wealth, the richest 2% owns more than 51% of global wealth,
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 50% of the world population owns less than 1% of global wealth,

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 About Security in Contemporary World

 500 largest companies control 52% of world product, those 500 companies has
more capital than 133 of the world's poorest countries.
 Among the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and De-
velopment (OECD), the average income of the richest 10% has now grown to
about nine times that of the poorest 10% (Global Risk, 2015).
Another manifestation of asymmetry in the system of international security is a dispar-
ity in the application of law in international relations, in process of solving conflicts
and contentious issues, in human rights, international humanitarian law, and war law
adherence and so on. A situation where one country, one group of people excludes
itself from the jurisdiction of internationally recognized rights, does not create confi-
dence and trust in the international environment, or equality between the actors.
Unequal approach is being asserted in assessment of internal political processes and
views on what is democratic and what is not. There cases of toleration of a violent
overthrow of representatives of power elected democratically in free elections. There
is an obvious contradiction between, on the one hand, that the countries of the devel-
oped world require or seek to extend the area of democracy (and the holding of free
elections), but if the election does not turn out to their liking, they divert to supporting
coups, violent overthrows and the like.
The asymmetry is also evident in the way and legality of selected means and responds
to security threats of the states. If in need of humanitarian interventions in humanitarian
disasters response time is relatively long (except for natural disasters and catastrophes),
decision making about preventive operations is relatively quick. When deciding on hu-
manitarian operations, the determining factor is the extent of the humanitarian loss or
number of victims, to make decisions about preventive interventions in the interests
zones of the super powers presumption about a possible threat is sufficient.

Conclusions

The contemporary world has not stood still: the importance of risk management and
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the need to build resilience has since become a top issue for decision makers who are
recognizing that risks are no longer isolated but inherently dynamic in nature and cross-
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ing many spheres of influence.

Security is one of the most sensed human needs, is a precondition of development.
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Dangerousness, insecurity or conflict not only destroys infrastructure, including social

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 Ladislav Hofreiter

infrastructure; it also encourages criminality, deters investment and makes normal eco-
nomic activity impossible
Equal, indivisible security for all is a fiction. Ensuring of the necessary security for
any object reference will depend on its skills, opportunities, status, position, prestige, or
power. Already from this perspective it is clear that absolute equality or equality is un-
attainable.
In the system of international security there is an asymmetry caused by selfishness
of strong states, or countries with large external support, which claim for „more” secu-
rity then other states; they are able to adapt the rules and conditions by influencing the
institutions and bodies of collective security and international justice.

References

Beck U. (2007), Co je globalizace? Omyly a odpovědi, CDK, Brno

Bertocchi G., Guerzoni A. (2010), The Fragile Definition of State Fragility, RECent Working
Paper No. 43, Center for Economic Research, Modena
Brzezinski Z. (2004), Volba. Globální nadvláda nebo globální vedení, Mladá Fronta, Praha
George S. (2011), Czyj kryzys, czyja odpowiedź, Książka i Prasa, Warszawa
Global Risk 2015 (2015), World Economic Forum, Geneva
Hofreiter L. (2014), The Asymmetry of Security in Contemporary World, in: Państwo demokra-
tyczne, prawne i socjalne. Studia społeczne, polityczne i ekonomiczne, (red.) Grzybowski M.,
tom IV, Krakowska Akademia im. Andrzeja Frycza Modrzewskiego, Kraków
Hofreiter L. (2006), Securitológia, Akadémia ozbrojených síl gen. M.R. Štefánika,
Liptovský Mikuláš
Human Development Report 1994 (2004), Oxford University Press, Oxford–New York
Marshall M.G., Cole R.B. (2009), Global Report 2009: Conflict, Governance and State Fragility,
Center for Systemic Peace, Vienna
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Potocki R. (2012), Państwo dysfunkcyjne w perspektywie geopolitycznej, „Racja Stanu”, nr 2

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 About Security in Contemporary World

Ladislav Hofreiter

About Security in Contemporary World

Abstract

The task to ensure security in contemporary world is a complicated political, scientific-

technological and socio-economic problem. As the security itself is complicated, multi-
factor and hierarchized phenomen also its investigation has to be of an interdisciplinary
character. The character of security environment, the character of security risks and
threats and also the character of tools for their elimination are essentially changing. The
basis to security of social subject consisted in arrangement of the conditions for their
existence, to surviving in the present time and advancement into the future. Assurance
of this condition means it provided ability to the social subjects to eliminated threats
that are defined. In situations of asymmetrical security, the threats are not always clearly
defined. They often consist of their own structure systems, in relationships and status
the subjects of internationals relations. Asymmetrical of security, by our opinion, pre-
sents a discrepancy, unbalance, non-parity between subjects of the international security
environment. The unbalance, discrepancy, non-parity has political, military, economic,
law, social and societal dimensions.

Keywords: Security, national security, international security, human security, global risks of security
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E-mail contact to the Author: [email protected]

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