1 Understanding food insecurity in rural Rwanda: how women ...

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According to Rothschild (1995, 55), the 1990s “extended” security takes four main forms. In the first, the concept of security is extended from the security of nations to the security of groups and individuals: it is extended downwards from nations to individuals. In the second, it is extended from the security of nations to the security of the international system, or of a supranational physical environment: it is extended upwards, from the nation to the biosphere. The extension in both cases is in the sorts of entities whose security is to be ensured. In the third form, the concept of security is extended horizontally, or to the sorts of security that are in question. Different entities (such as individuals, nations, and “systems”) cannot be expected to be secure or insecure in the same way; the concept of security is extended therefore, from military to political, economic, social, environmental, or “human” security. In a fourth form, the political responsibility for ensuring security (or for invigilating all these “concepts of security”) is itself extended: it is diffused in all directions from national states including upwards to international institutions, downwards to regional or local government, and sideways to nongovernmental organizations, to public opinion and the press, and to the abstract forces of nature or of the market. In the different extensions of security, food security comes in the third form where different types of security are mentioned and it is part of the human security because the individual is at the centre and food is among the basic human needs. However, the expansion of security has been criticized by different scholars who think that if security is everything it ceases to be a useful concept and that expanding the 'security studies' field will destroy its intellectual coherence" Miller (2001, 26). As Deudney argues, if we begin to speak about all the forces and events that threaten life, property and well-being (on a large scale) as threats to our national security, we shall soon drain the term of any meaning. All large-scale evils will become threats to national security and there will be a de-definition rather than a re-definition of security (Deudney cited by Miller 2001, 26). In the discussion of the extension of security, Miller (2001, 28) suggests that some aspects should be looked at as security concerns only if they have something to do with war and peace. For example, environmental factors should be included only if they affect the likelihood of violence (like water or energy shortages or other environmental scarcities) but not if they are ecological developments that threaten all of humanity without affecting (for better or worse) the question of war and peace. However, limiting security concerns to war and peace would exclude a variety of threats to human beings. Those who support to look at security as an extended concept suggest that the referent of security should be the individual, 6
and the threats should not be limited to military ones. This is where different basic needs including food and human rights came to be security concerns because the individual is given high consideration in the extended security. 4.2. Human Security ‘State security is essential but does not necessarily ensure the safety of individuals and communities (Hoogensen and Rottem 2004, 158). It is in that perspective that, in the aftermath of the Cold War, there have been many calls for adopting a new conception of security and for extending the traditional concept. Thus, the United Nations Development Program advocated in 1994 a transition 'from nuclear security to human security', or to 'the basic concept of human security', defined as safety from 'such chronic threats as hunger, disease and repression', and 'protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions'. Furthermore, the International Commission on Global Governance recommended in 1995 that 'Global security must be broadened from its traditional focus on the security of states to the security of people and the planet' (Miller 2001, 2). Human security brings the focus of security to the level of the individual, thereby recognizing the constraints of a solely state oriented security perspective and acknowledging the importance of security at non-state levels. Thus, the individual or personal perspective becomes important (Hoogensen and Stuvøy 2006, 210). While its application varies widely, human security is by definition concerned with individuals and their rights rather than national militaries, and in particular the consequences of national or global events for individual human beings (Lemansky 2012, 62). The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan states that human security can no longer be understood in purely military terms. Rather, it must encompass economic development, social justice, environmental protection, democratization, disarmament, and respect for human rights and the rule of law.” Therefore, human security issues encompassed considerations for protection not only on national and international levels, but also on regional, local, and individual levels (Annan 2001; den Boer and de Wilde 2008; McRae and Huberts 2001 ; Tadjbakhsh and Chenoy 2007 ; UNDP 1994 ). The Human Security shifted attention away from the military defence of national borders from external threats, towards a focus on the safety and security of individuals, who were often more at risk from their own governments than from external threats (Miller 2001, 19). To numerous human beings, the major security threat is posed by the states themselves, which violate their human rights, discriminate on ethnic, racial or gender basis, jail dissidents and even carry out ethnic cleansing and mass killings. However, although Human security has 7
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