GARNET Working Paper No. 13/07

HOW DO REGIONS OF INSECURITY AND VIOLENCE EMERGE
For analytical purposes this study contends that the regional level is singled out in three key
ways: (i) regional reception of intra-regional threats and violence, (ii) regional reception of
extra-regional threats and violence, and (iii) regional provision of threats and violence.
. Intra-regional threats and violence
. Region indirectly targeted
(diffusion at regional level of inter-state
or intra-state threats and violence)
. REGIONAL
RECEPTION of
. Extra-regional threats and violence
. Region directly targeted
. Region indirectly targeted
. REGIONAL PROVISION of threats and violence
Fig.1: Regional Cluster of Threats and Violence
Regional Reception of Intra-Regional Threats and Violence
The regional level stands out in security relations primarily as a consequence of the diffusion
of inter-state conflicts or securitization of state relations (see above). This is generally the
way regional clusters of security are formed. In a pre-Westphalia era, the contact between the
different polities was minimal and, therefore, security was above all a localized issue with, in
most cases, exclusive domestic implications. As described by Mouritzen (1995), for a long
time the international system was marked by tribal and/or nomadic groups that moved over
long distances; and with the geographical instability and mobility of the main actors no stable
regional environment ever emerged. In an era when communication and mobility were
sluggish (or inexistent), the increase or decrease of security in a feudal political entity had no
major positive or negative impact on neighboring political entities. And even if two agents
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