POLS 112 - Human Security, New Wars, Global Public Health (HIV/AIDS)

Formal Regionalism in East and West Africa

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

Economic Regionalism and West Africa

Dual economy wherein informal networks tend to undermine state- and policy-led efforts in the formal economy

Economic Regionalism and East Africa

State-led regional economic integration efforts aim to account for, and even empower, informal actors and networks - but are limited by sluggish performance

Security Regionalism and West Africa

State-centric regional security efforts simultaneously "enable" non-state-centric regional illicit economies to thrive

Security Regionalism and East Africa

Informal economies are co-opted by illicit networks and NSAGs that restrict or undermine state-centric security efforts

Human Security

Issues relating to the protection of individuals from unstructured violence, which may accompany mass migration or scarcity due to environmental catastrophes or degradation, such as deforestation and desertification, or more commonly, violent conflict such as warfare

Dimensions of Human Security

Liberty - Rights and the Rule of Law

Freedom from Fear - Safety of Peoples

Freedom from Want - Equity and Social Justice

Gender and Human Security

The UN Decade for Women (from 1976 to 1985) and the Women's Convention of 1979 brought attention to the fact that in practice, discrimination against women was endemic in the Global South and Global North

Threats to and violations of human security continue to be perpetrated against women due to their gender in the Global South and Global North

Millions of girls are married and have children by the age of 12

• Hundreds of thousands are engaged in child prostitution

  • Political, economic, and cultural factors in Global North too

Wife-beating is commonplace in many countries are rarely subject to legal recourse

In much of the Middle East, women cannot hold political office

In Africa, 80 to 100 million girls and women have undergone genital mutilation ostensibly in order to control their sexuality

Where limited resources for education are available, it is usually the girls that go without formal education in many Global South countries

New Wars

A shift from inter-state war since 1945, to civil wars - wars of independence, succession, asymmetry, insurgency, may include terrorist and/or guerrilla tactics

New technologies (drones, cyberwars, AI), a role for private security

HIV Infection Rates - Angola

Civilian Population - approximately 5%

Military - approximately 15%

Militaries - approximately 30%

Southern Africa as a region - approximately 20-40%

Contributors to HIV Infection Rates

Globalization and interdependence (soldiers, truck drivers, merchants, migrants, returning refugees)

Role of political will and funding from foreign donors, and political will within recipient governments

Military Personnel and the Transmission of HIV

Influenced by peer pressure to have casual sex, increased sense of personal invulnerability, alcohol abuse, increased mobility, isolation from regular sexual partners or spouse (combined with opportunity), occupational stresses

Impact of HIV/AIDS on Human Security and Human Development

People are ill and cannot work, often die in the prime of their working lives

Depletes personal savings and drains public health budgets in the Global South

Loss of skilled labour and knowledge-base, disrupts communities

Loss of parents limits the life choices of children as they grow up

Impact of Pandemics on Human Security and Human Development

International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank, now focusing on impact of pandemics on all types of economic development

World Health Organization and UN AIDS