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Researching violence and Human Security. Categories-severity-spaces. Violence as a proxy for human (insecurity). HS – fundamental characteristics: About individuals/groups and their lived experiences ---- violence impacts directly on people
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Researching violenceand Human Security Categories-severity-spaces
Violence as a proxy for human (insecurity) HS – fundamental characteristics: • About individuals/groups and their lived experiences ---- violence impacts directly on people • Security and violence socially constituted –look at social relationships [negative and positive] • HS about components of threats – multiple and interconnected ---physical safety +material privations; oppression and conflict + dignity, health, environment etc; violence = pluralism of threats • HS versus HR or Human Development --- downside risks, vulnerability, sudden disruption and concept of intolerability ----threshold definition + severity criteria • HS about emancipation and empowerment
Insecurity...but not inaction • HS about managing consequences of violence and understanding the dynamics of those individual strategies • People who are suffering from, or threatened by, violence, develop coping strategies • They are confronted with numerous dilemmasin seeking to protect themselves • Violence links to project themes of peace, reconciliation and good governance -symptom of a society which is insecure • undermines the rule of law • destroys cohesion and community • increases social exclusion • denies opportunity and limits possibility
Approaching violence from a HS perspective Categorise violence – by severity and thresholds • Category 1= life threatening; physical injury • Violence as an event • Category 2= structural [latent, embedded]; by • Violence as process • Category 3= Violations of dignity; symbolic violence • Violence as a permanence/status
Violence and HS threats Categorise by components • Freedom from fear issues • beatings, lynchings, armed aggression, persecution, psychological oppression; insecure neighbourhoods; access to justice; environmental hazards • Freedom from want • Impeded in making a living, have safe housing, access to health, safe environment • Right to dignity • Violation of cultural rights and heritage; language, education; ethnic discrimination ;freedoms of association and movement How are they connected ?
Spaces and Security • Violence occurs somewhereHuman Security spatial and context-driven – components and severity of threat depend on each location • What are the key spaces of insecurity and violence • Does the nature of violence – and its severity –depend on its location?
ADDING ANOTHER DIMENSION : Dialectic and dynamics of violence ----HS as emancipation and empowerment Problems, but also responses Where to look for ways of mitigating violence Strategies --- individual , group, national, regional Opportunities -- if violence shuts down normal life, how can it be re-opened Research to focus on the counterforce to violence and social exclusion