Peace Building and Human Security: Kosovo Case 15 pages, pdf  Download Back

Peace Building and Human Security: Kosovo Case 

Publisher: Dragana Dulic

Volume: 15 pages, pdf

Description:

In the last 15 years, human security and peace-building have become core concepts in the international discourses on ‘soft power’, which have been dominated by arms control, disarmament, détente policy, human rights and development issues. These concepts became the basis for a new evolving culture of international relations. Additionally, both human security and peace-building are increasingly institutionalized across the international landscape. While the consensus among scholars and practitioners about the necessity of the conceptual change in state-building operations has increased, the spectrum of instruments for the coordination of the various activities of international peace operations in a comprehensive and integrative perspective has become more and more nuanced. The change involved a holistic approach to reconstruction and development – with equal consideration and importance - as the only way to safeguard stability and peace in the affected country. Or, in other words, instead of dealing with the hierarchies within the traditional security discourse as ultimately counterproductive and gravely misleading, i.e., placing security above development, the state above the individual, men above women and protection above empowerment, we should treat all these issues as inseparable. Therefore, state-building agendas should include good governance based on the rule of law, human rights, and civil liberties; a free-market economy; a pluralistic democracy; and above all, socio-cultural changes and acceptance of new values and responsibilities across the board - all these coincide with human security dimensions.