This is one of at least 14 projected volumes commissioned by the UN Intellectual History Project, dedicated to documenting the history of ideas central to the development of that organization. Here the focus is on human security, dealing with individuals rather than the traditional concentration on states. Most regard the idea of human security as a recent innovation, but the authors do an exemplary job of tracing its origins in early political and social thought. Importantly, they also present cogent analysis on conventional state security, from which one can see how human security issues evolved. With this background, the authors trace how the idea of human security became embedded in the UN through such issues as human rights, the laws of war, and refugees, among others. The latter part of the book is dedicated to a discussion of two dimensions of human security and the UN: human development and protection. Appropriately, one chapter provides a critique of UN actions in the human security area. This is a fine book, even essential for scholars of the UN or security studies in general. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students through practitioners. —— P. F. Diehl, University of Illinois at UrbanaOctober 2006
Champaign
Choice
There are many hard questions related to human security, and MacFarlane and Khong cannot answer them all. But they have done much in this must-read tour de force to elevate human security to the most rigorous analysis for the purpose of revamping international public policy. As such, policy makers, analysts, and academics alike will find this book of exceptional value.
Human Rights & Human Welfare