Group 1 Global Security Studies

Paige Ferreira Global Security Studies Professor Shirk 18 December 2017      In my original security essay, I argued that security is a multi-layered, complex causal concept that on one level ensures the preservation and fulfillment of nationalistic and political ideologies with the ultimate goal of achieving ontological pursuits.  On another level security should protect the citizens of a nation from forces of evil and threats.  After taking this class, I am now arguing that sometimes those forces of evil are within one’s own country and sometimes governments beset with corrupt leaders threaten the security of those they are elected to protect.  Human Security is still a major threat globally as many civilians lives become endangered by corrupt leadership, lack of education, gender inequalities, and inadequate public health policies. In essence, the social and political decisions of greedy and corrupt governments are the greatest negative r...

Like most things in this world, opinions are bound to change with the times that they live in. Before this class, I put security to be for the common good, with the common good saying that the national security is over other types of security. After taking the class I would say my opinion is unmoved by what it started. The opinion I had on national security as the greater good since this is what keeps the world as we know it flowing is what I still stand by. The cases that support this stance would be the problems within Sierra Leone and also the problems with Tuvalu. Both have cases that can easily argue for the human security but I still stand towards the greater good over individuals.     In the instance of Sierra Leone, national security must be protected to ensure those within the nation are able to have human and ontological security. In this case, the national security would have been able to enforce borders so that the pillaging of the resources would not have occurre...

Entering this class with no previous political science experience, I had an extremely open mind about security. In my security essay, I argued that human security should be prioritized above all other types of security; using history to prove my point. I am advocating for this view of security because I see how in history and in modernity, a lack of human security can directly result in the eventual collapse of a system of rule. Two sources covered in this class which illuminate the importance of human security are Pervenia Brown’s Worldpress article “Blood Diamonds” and Christian Bueger’s article “Practice, Pirate and Coast Guards: the grand narrative of Somali piracy”. Both of these works focus on the importance of human security through examining Sierra Leone’s diamond operation and the rationale behind Somali piracy. Aside from the two sources I chose for this discussion, I believe that most if not all of the cases we examined for this class involve aspects of human security at th...

Shannon Hargitt Global Security Studies Professor Shirk 15 December 2017 Security: The Ultimate Balancing Act In my original security essay, I argued that security is a human enforced ideology that bases its foreground on the necessity of human rights before national and global security threat. I argued that because of globalization, the world has far less national security to worry about than it does human security and therefore human security should take precedence. With countries only as powerful as their people were protected, I believed that security was centered around human and ontological security instead of the opposite ideology that national and or global security took precedence. Human security is still and incredibly prevalent ideal and we should all strive as a global community to obtain it. But now after studying security throughout the semester I no longer believe that security can be defined as a ‘chicken before the egg’ ideology. I no longer feel that hu...

In my security essay I argued that national security should remain the definition of security and not be modified to include human rights and environmental issues. Instead of expanding the definition of security to contain these issues, I argued that those issues should be simply elevated in standing and viewed as just as or more important than national security by governments and citizens alike. After taking this class, I am now arguing that security should move away from national security to focus more on global security, and that human rights should be included in the definition of global security. However, the global community should never completely override the sovereignty of the state in which it is working, but should include that state in all decisions. I am changing my argument after learning about the Sierra Leone blood diamond conflict and the after effects of the earthquake that destroyed Haiti in 2010. Both countries were unable, by themselves, to effectively deal with t...