HUMAN SECURITYskfisher2010@gmail.com | Gender & Health | Food & Environment

HUMAN SECURITY • “In coming decades, changes

in our environment and resulting upheavals- from droughts to inundated coastal areas to loss of arable land- lar likely to become a major driver of war and conflict” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon

• What is human security? • Does human security fit into

global security? If so, how? If not, why not?

ARTICLE DISCUSSION • For your group’s article: • What was the author’s

main point? • What was the author’s

primary evidence? • What critiques can you

offer? • What perspective (if any)

does the author take? • Slogan/bumper

sticker/etc.

GENDER

• How does gender impact IR? • How does gender impact “global security policy”?

Should gender impact global security policy? If so, how?

HEALTH SECURITY• Pandemics

– 1918 flu pandemic– .5 M US dead, 38K Western Samoans

died, 5% of population in Ghana– Spread in 4 mo.

• Smallpox and the WTO– 1980- “cured”– GAVI- vaccinnes, Gates foundation

• New: HIV/AIDs, Ebola, Hep C, Avian flu

• Old: TB, malaria, (endemic in 109 co. w/1M deaths per yr)

• Antibiotics overuse• What are the challenges of dealing

with health issues?

FOOD

• How is food a security issue?

• Photos:– What kinds of foods do

these families eat? – How does globalization

factor in to what people eat?

– Which of these families might be considered “food insecure”? Why?

JAPAN- $317.25 PER WEEK

ITALY - $260.11 PER WEEK

CHAD: $1.23 PER WEEK

KUWAIT: $221.45 PER WEEK

US: $341.98 PER WEEK

MEXICO: $189.09 PER WEEK

CHINA: $155.06 PER WEEK

POLAND - $151.27 PER WEEK

EGYPT - $68.53 PER WEEK

ECUADOR - $31.55 PER WEEK

MONGOLIA: $40.02 PER WEEK

GREAT BRITAIN: $253.15 PER WEEK

BHUTAN: $5.03 PER WEEK

GERMANY: $500.07 PER WEEK

ENVIRONMENT

• 50K sq. miles of forest disappears per year (about the size of Greece)

• Species extinctions 100- 100K X normal rate– Overfishing- both economic

and nutritional issue

• 1980s, average of 5.5 billion tons of CO2– Projected to be 11 B tons per

year by 2030

• Is this a security threat? How?

ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY

• 1986 Chernobyl• 2K dead in Bhopal, India

1984 result of gas leak – Union Carbide plant-

200K injured

• 1952 death rate in London tripled for 4 days due to “Great Smog.” – 4K deaths immediately,

8K later

WAR RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS

• “Stealing” water– Done for thousands of years

• Oil– Iraqi military lit 3mo. Global

supply of oil on fire retreating from Kuwait in 1991

• Extinction of species– DRC & Rwanda’s gorillas

• Buildup to war & hazards post war– Radioactive waste

SOCRATIC DIALOGUE

• A theorist and a theorist walk into a bar and talk about issue.

• From a theory perspective, issue is like (analogy).

• Theorist/theory: realist, liberal, constructivist, Marxist, feminist, mercantilist, liberal (economic sense)

• Issue: human security, health security, environmental security, gender issues, food security

UNFCCC- PRIMARY DOCUMENTS• Who is the primary audience for

these documents? • How is this information

presented? • What kind of language to these

documents employ? • What interests/perspectives are

represented in there documents?

• What aims might the UNFCCC have? Do those aims come through in these documents?

• Did anything surprise you about these documents?

• What types of power do these documents represent?