Security in a Globalization world

246 Military Art and Science

REVISTA ACADEMIEI FOR ELOR TERESTRE NR. 3 (71)/2013

SECURITY SYSTEM

IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA

Mihai Marcel NEAG“Nicolae B lcescu” Land Forces Academy, Sibiu, Romania

ABSTRACTThe evolution of the process of globalization will most probably

change the appearance of the world, and will open other perspectives to

human society. Globalization influences not only the individuals in

particular, but also the state security. Globalization is an irreversible reality

and any country that wishes and wants to build a prosperous future for its

people is forced to interfere with it. The security equation is currently

becoming more and more complicated as the issue of the governance of the

world through collective rules gets into conflict with the process used for

limiting the individual power of the states. Globalization dangers and

threats have made the states to review their national security strategies, to

adapt to the fluid security environment of today. Such strategies are needed

to be configured so as to protect the interests of the states and to promote

human values which they have created. Our study focuses on the analysis of

vulnerabilities and threats of the security system, caused by the negative

consequences of the globalization and their possible consequences.

KEYWORDSGlobalization, new world order, uncertainties, risks,

security strategies.

The theories about the world and political ideologies that appear from time to time related to globalization, promoted by the “new world order” [1], are increasingly accepted by human communities. The majority of specialists and analysts agree that this process represents a natural evolution towards a world with permeable borders, a reconsideration of the modern international system based on states.

The evolution of the process of globalization will most probably change the appearance of the world, and will open other perspectives to human society. Globalization influences not only the individuals in particular, but also the state security, if we take into account the risk factors that may lead to: insufficient democracy, failure to

comply with human rights and fundamental freedoms, uneven economic development, the proliferation of terrorism, illegal migration, greater intolerance, separatism and xenophobia, misinformation and manipulation of information, environmental disasters etc.

Globalization is generating security and at the same time, insecurity. Security architectures at a global level are changing according to the hierarchy of power. New formulas to ensure peace and establish an optimal security structure are looked for, involving the states as well as the regional or global political and political-military institutions.

This process is hampered by different interests and perceptions the states have about the new formula of the organization of peace.

Military Art and Science 247


The elimination of one or more countries or organizations from the security architecture, which is being built at the beginning of this millennium through globalization, could lead to its failure, and globalization will become a permanent source of insecurity for everyone, from the individual to states and international organizations.

Globalization is an irreversible reality and any country that wishes and wants to build a prosperous future for its people is forced to interfere with it. The security equation is currently becoming more and more complicated as the issue of the governance of the world through collective rules gets into conflict with the process used for limiting the individual power of the states.

1. Factors of Insecurity and Major

Vulnerabilities According to specialists, the major

source of instability in a period of profound transformations of the human society is the imbalances created by the systemic lability. The characteristics of the security environment show us the main problems the international actors face. Even though the importance and the role of nonstate actors on the international scene have increased, the state still remains the reference entity in the initiative of identifying the risk factors, whose presence or absence indicates the level of stability or instability of the security environment.

To the ancient classical sources of instability, others have been added in recent years, having new elements that originate in phenomena such as: terrorism; the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and technologies for their production; trafficking of radioactive materials, weapons, drugs and people; illegal immigration as a result of population growth and the arising effects at the political and social level. These sources of instability are considered major, with repercussions on both national security as well as the regional and global ones, as they present a peculiar characteristic, namely,

that their consequences are not limited to a specific level (e.g.: political, economic, social, etc.), but are felt at all levels.

The reality shows that the array of security, proposed by experts of the Watson Institute for International Studies, is one of globalization insecurity, as it illustrates the ways in which the risks, hazards and threats spread from the individual human level to the global one, and vice versa [2]. Globalization is a powerful force in creating a new array of international security, although it is associated with increasing insecurity due to the determination of interdependencies within international relations. The evolution of this process has transformed the characteristics of the existing risks, hazards and threats and also created new ones.

The current economic and financial

crisis represents the first of the insecurity factors at global level. Adverse consequences of globalization (economic), uneven distribution of earnings, unpaid taxes by financial centers, international crises as a result of capital speculative movements, an unfair competition at the local level, can be analyzed only in the global context. The national state is too small to resolve these problems effectively; it can no longer carry out some important functions, such as guaranteeing the security of its citizens.

The war has evolved from open, extended and with a high degree of violence armed conflict, to new ways of deployment in various social areas related to the characteristics of the present security environment (influenced by globalization, terrorism and technological innovations). “Therefore, war is an act of violence in order to force the opponent to fulfill our will” [3]. After the Second World conflagration, few wars were waged between sovereign states. In some cases these have been resolved, usually, through the intervention of a superpower. The wars mostly involved either blocks of states (the Cold War), or nations and groups that fought for self-determination



(Russia-Chechnya, Russia-Georgia, Israel – Palestine) or ethnic groups (Central Asia), racial and tribal groups (Africa), religious ones (the Middle East and South Asia) that triggered civil wars, indicating the absence or decrease of the state control over the armed forces.

The international dimension of terrorism and crime has been emphasized in recent years, these two threats becoming a major source of instability, which, for the time being, the international community is not able to remove. Although they are considered to be distinct threats with incomparable effects, both represent illicit human activities carried out by the nonstate actors from inside or outside the boundaries of a state. Most transnational criminal organizations have economic motivations and involve various forms of piracy, smuggling, and illegal financial activities. Both forms can intersect in practice, such as, for example, weapons smuggling and transnational criminal activities to fund terrorist operations. Transnational crime based on economic logics implies a wide range of activities: illegal trafficking of arms, drugs and radioactive substances, trade of people (immigrants, prostitutes, babies, human organs, etc.). Even if the terrorism sources are multiple and complex, globalization is both the aim and the means by which terrorism gains new powers. Transnational terrorist groups have responded to globalization the same way the multinational corporations did and which reevaluated their functions and resources [4].

The weapons of mass destruction pose a very important threat to security. The possibility of an attack from a criminal group that possesses such weapons increases along with the permeability of borders and the development of specific technology. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has become one of the most important and dramatic features of the new security environment. Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear

weapons represent a threat of utmost importance to international stability, a threat of first magnitude for the very existence of life.

The Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM) [5] within the University of Maryland has published, twice a year since 2001, a study in which the world's states are indexed according to the future risk of political instability and the possibility of their involvement in various types of armed conflict. Thus, the existence of “failed”

states emphasize the globalization of insecurity. Poverty, lack of economic stability and inability to provide prosperity and social security in such states, may create favorable conditions for revolts and transnational insurgency movements. Moreover, the failed states can accommodate groups and terrorist activities and are often the source of refugee crises, political and religious extremism, environmental degradation and the action of criminal organizations.

The problem of resources and

competition for resources is another important aspect of the globalization of insecurity. The interdependence between resources and development, wealth and power has decisively shaped the evolution of the political world. It is obvious that the most powerful motivation for war is the acquisition, access or control of the critical resources. The existence of the limited energy resources, particularly oil, is a major concern to many states, whereas consumption rising in line with the declining reserves, will lead to a dramatic reformulation of strategic interests in the world. For these reasons, the developed world might be drawn into a conflict for resources with countries that have them and who want to protect their interests [6].

The environmental issues are also closely linked to the globalization of insecurity. The current trend of deterioration of the environment, at least in



the industrialized countries, constitutes an aggression against the ecological systems that destroys the ability of the ecosystem to maintain the human existence and not only this. Even though environmental disasters and climate change have an impact on the security environment, this effect is not distributed equally among the states. The severity of such an event and the ability to cope with it, vary from one country to another, and this will cause economic and social damage, different from one case to another. Ultimately, such a situation can lead to the exacerbation of tensions between states.

In conclusion, nowadays, there is a strong trend of globalization of the factors of insecurity, which requires the creation of new modalities and management tools. We feel that for the future, it is necessary the development of international cooperation, enhanced collaboration between states, the harmonization of domestic legislation with international law because the factors of insecurity have particular effects depending on the area of manifestation: national, regional or global.

2. Risks and Nonmilitary and

Military Aggressive Actions

Although more numerous, we consider that the most representative risks and nonmilitary aggressive actions could be: political and diplomatic pressures, threats, economic-financial and aggressive technological actions, information aggressions, psychological activities, migration with destabilizing effects, etc. Their specificity is the interference and possibly their concealment, in the context of normal activities or behaviors that do not affect security.

Pressures and hostile political-

diplomatic actions aimed at discrediting and isolating the targeted state at an international level, as well as the weakening of the ability of its government and political forces in power to tacitly or explicitly get support or to sign an agreement with other countries or international organizations in

order to satisfy certain demands at the expense of another state; the determination of the political and diplomatic organs of the state to act the way its opponent wants; the creation of the conditions necessary for triggering other forms of hostile or aggressive actions; taking advantage of the potential results of aggressive actions, be they military or nonmilitary, taken to grant international recognition of the imposed new state of affairs.

The economic-financial actions and

aggressive technologies have also been present in international relations, but we appreciate that they will be present in the future too, both independently and in conjunction with other aggressive manifestations. Trade and banking relations, foreign investments, economic aids, and technological dependence can be used to force a weaker state from an economic point of view, to adopt a certain attitude, at the expense of its security, or in order to disrupt its military activities. As Jean Bernard Pinatel said “...a skillful trade and investment policy provides the

same advantages as well as a military expedition without the inconveniences” [7].

The granting of aids, loans and other financial facilities can create a dependency status for any state. In underdeveloped areas support is provided by appointing skilled managers that are to be placed in locations from where they can dictate the monetary policy. The excess of credits creates a very dangerous addiction and interests will be extremely difficult to be paid, in time. Debt crisis reduces the investments for refurbishment, resulting in reduced production and productivity, and it affects the economic security, thereby eroding the legitimacy of the state.

Informational aggression is the action that includes hostile activities whose effect is achieved mainly through information and that have as its objective the reference systems of the civilian personalities, the military and the



population as well as computer systems. This kind of action prepares and accompanies other types of aggression that directly affect the values that define a country’s state of security. Among the information aggressions we mention: hostile information actions, collection of data and misinformation, aggression against a state’s self-esteem, cultural penetration, ideological aggression, and others. Information warfare can influence the very understanding of the notions of risk, hazard or threat to security by manipulation and reconstruction of the social representations of people. Furthermore, if the international system, or the target groups or states are viewed as social constructions, then the enemies can be represented in the same manner, their images being created through media projections of risks, hazards, threats or even conflict. In this context, the confusion created by media is in itself a threat to representation vis-à-vis the security [8].

Migration with destabilizing effects is very likely to be a threat in terms of liberalization of the movement of people, state of conflicts, and the perpetuation of the economic crisis. Armed conflicts represent one of the causes that generate strong migration flows but they are raced by the economic discrepancies and overpopulation, the serious environmental degradation or persecutions to which some categories of citizens are subjected to, in countries with authoritarian or totalitarian regimes.

In the case of some companies that undergo difficult times of economic crisis and internal instability, a huge immigration phenomenon could severely disrupt or even destroy the fragile social equilibrium. In Europe, the process of immigration affects Western countries mostly. Some political parties in France, Austria, Belgium and Germany already consider migration as a threat to the internal and external security. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe may be faced with this threat,

especially in the case of an outbreak of violent clashes in the neighboring states or due to the immigrants that transit their territory and that are rejected by the Western countries and who cannot be repatriated to their countries of origin.

The most representative risks and violent aggressive actions or those using the military threat might be: internal subversive actions, inter-ethnic confrontations, military intervention, all having in common the fact that the armed violence is used in ways and at a scale different from those characteristic to wars.

The subversive actions, a form of the political struggle carried out with illegal means, contrary to democratic norms specific to any lawful state, aim at destabilizing the political system, disruption of the state and society, in order to be able to impose more easily the conditions that affect their security. The subversive actions are a combination of the terrorist means and methods with those of the internal political, economic and psychological struggle. The subversive actions represent a hazard for any democratic state, whereas they are largely dissembled in internal political and social manifestations, which infest and disrupt essential structures for the self-regulation of the social system and which can have very serious consequences for the unity, territorial integrity or even the survival of that state.

Inter-ethnic confrontations are the subject of worldwide spread concerns in the present days. This kind of actions is one of the consequences of the existence of minorities in the contemporary world. The problem of minorities includes a variety of related issues: human rights, political, economic and social internal situation, the ratio between the state centralization and the local autonomy, interstate relations, or the activity of different international organizations. Addressing the issue of ethnic minorities from the perspective of national security



was often treated in a simple manner, generating confusion or by suggesting the public lots of misinterpretations. The oppression of minorities in countries with dictatorial or authoritarian regimes poses a risk to the security of the state concerned, but also to the neighboring ones, bringing along conflicts that may cause internal changes as well as state dismantling. Important migration flows can occur, or even armed confrontations with one of the neighboring states. It is obvious that, among the risk factors and the mentioned vulnerabilities, having a significant and long-lasting impact on the security of states, the consequences of globalization are the follow-on of the pressures caused by the transnational processes and evolutions upon the State and national security, as well as due to the propagation, in a cascading effect, of the unconventional threats in the international environment. All these problems and issues seen in the world of political factor make us to affirm that we are witnessing the emergence of a true phenomenon of globalization of the risks that we perceive more and more as terrorism in its extremely dangerous forms, financial and economic aggressions, multiple conditionings in complex situations, etc.

Conclusions

The threats to the international security, typical of this millennium, increase the entropy of the security environment, in which multipolarity and instability increase the range of uncertainties. Reducing the impact of the risk is carried out by alleviating strategies, which take into account the costs, planning, technical and human resources.

The informational advantage is decisive, all these issues being translated in terms of knowledge and being stored in databases, or being in the composition of teams that manage risks.

The vulnerability analysis highlight the fact that, if from the perspective of collective defense, the level of vulnerability of states is declining, the participation in imposing regional or multinational security policies, increases the exposure to asymmetric threats of the states. The management of risks, vulnerabilities, dysfunctions, threats and hazards can be made in a coherent and organized way. If we speak of collective defense, regional or multinational security policies, of ways of decreasing the number of asymmetric threats crises, we cannot ignore the more and more important role of the civil society in the new security strategies.

Globalization dangers and threats have made the states to review their national security strategies, to adapt to the fluid security environment of today. Such strategies are needed to be configured so as to protect the interests of the states and to promote human values which they have created. Globalization has made notable progress (international cooperation/ competition), but the weapons become more and more powerful and “intelligent”.The traditional pre-industrial societies, national and regional economies, social behaviors and mentalities are remodeling, “civilizations are interwoven and confront

each other”, everything seeming to move towards the “global state”, which, besides beneficial things, brings uncertainty and insecurity too. The vulnerabilities of the contemporary world are associated with existing material resources and environmental conditions, with a multiple of instances of the nature and the behavior of state and nonstate actors. As for the threats, they are related to the negative consequences of the globalization of the economy, resulting in the impoverishment of millions of people, in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in international terrorism and organized crime networks that threaten the world stability, as well as local and internal conflicts, inter-ethnic and religious ones.



REFERENCES

1. G.I. Mantzaridis, Globalizare i universalitate – himer i adev r, (Bucharest: Bizantin Publishing House, 2002), 5.

2. Alexandra Sarcinschi, Globalizarea insecurit ii. Factori i modalit i de contracarare, (Bucharest: “Carol I” National Defence University Publishing House, 2006), 27.

3. Carl von Clausewitz, Despre r zboi, (Bucharest: Militar Publishing House, 1982), 53. 4. Alexandra Sarcinschi, cit.ed., 33. 5. http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/6. Alexandra Sarcinschi, cit.ed., 35. 7. Jacqueline Grapin and Jean Bernard Pinatel, La guerre civile mondiale, (Paris:

Calman Levy, 1976), 155. 8. Alexandra Sarcinschi, cit.ed., 35.

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Security in a Globalization world