International Security at the Crossroads of Globalization

Introduction

Dynamic developments, in the field of international security are crashing at the turbulent crossroads of the new order that is trying to be created through Globalization.

The multidimensional spectrum of the action of this macro-process, despite the benefits it has brought to the international economic level, has also caused a variety of crises on that level, especially in the unstable and poor countries, thus greatly affecting international security. Previous models and security policies, together with the institutions and organizations involved in security and security provision, are justified and insufficient. Networking of the economy and other fields is not enough without the networking of security institutions. The process of globalization is reorganizing the world’s system of governance,¹ causing serious challenges to global security at international level. Threats and risks are growing at the crossroads of the Globalization process. Nowadays, no one can talk about security in the extent of what was said several years ago.

International Security and the Complexity of Globalization

We write too much, and talk too less, which is a serious problem concerning security.

Security is the essential element of all public life issues and the basic needs of all natural and social systems.² It is a sensitive issue that requires special attention and skills, careful training, and serious discussions. Buzan teaches us that Security is the search for freedom from the threat. Looked from the context of the international system, security has to do with the ability of states and societies to maintain their independent identity and functional integrity.”. In today's circumstances this emerges as a very complex and multi-dimensional process. Results are our indicator. The challenges that countries face whilst going towards a world that it is intended to be complicate the security even more.

Security is the basis of peace but not absolute peace in every field and system. It depends on everything people do, starting from the individual up to the home of all individuals, the world. The brighter minds of international relations are constantly preoccupied with the concept of security, but at the same time the diverse development of societies makes the success difficult. Einstein seeks security in gist. With his foresight, he had longed to invest in mothers who raise children.³ But besides mothers' education, the environment, the circle, and the society in which these children grow up are of great importance too. The apple sees the other apple and so it ripens.⁴ Even if you can manage to have peace in your house, that peace will be inadequate if the neighbors do not do the same. Any attempt towards bringing the noisy neighbor to join the chain of silence, brings conflict and then the security of one or both parties is jeopardized. Security should be the same for everyone - as Kant teaches, at a Universal level. This is naturally still related to the conditions and circumstances created in different circles of society. For peace and strong security are interlinked with the development and rhythm of the societies. Peace and security are strong interlinked with the development and life rhythm of the societies.

There can be no peace even in a single family, if one of its members has bad conditions and security. There is no peace in a state if a part of its citizens do not enjoy equal conditions and security. There is no peace in the world if some of its societies do not enjoy an approximate level of living and security, like the rest do. And Peace nor international security will not always be possible in the complex periods of great changes like it is now in this turbulence of the new order which is trying to be created.

Every process is manifested in its best, but with abundant problems as well. Viewed from this context, the process of Globalization has improved the living standards of hundreds of millions of people, but the increasing scarcity of resources is likely to turn it into a victim of its success.⁵ Deficiencies of food, energy, water, soil and natural resources are elements that can cause zero competition between countries in the process, thus increasing poverty, state fragility, economic instability, inflation and strategic competition between major powers.⁶ Huntington says the relationship between states and groups will not be narrow and will often be antagonistic.⁷ The developments of this clash dimension and the actors that emerge on the ground through it are unpredictable and faster than the State's own opportunities to face them. Existing policies have a huge inconsistency with the pattern of the new order and they are not even falling somewhat in time and place concerning each country or society. To walk with time has become difficult. Reformulation of policies and their adaptation, the created situations, is a slower process than the situations itself. Some of these policies emerge at the same time of risk exposure, thus, turning insufficient to manage and keep under control the situations that shake the circles of international security. The development of appropriate legality and new strategies for addressing and managing current security challenges, through continuous systematic analysis of the security spectrum is a necessary issue, for the development of new security accesses.⁸ Fukuyama says that the critical weakness, which has overthrown strong states, was primarily the lack of legitimacy.⁹

International security, dangers and threats that challenge it are not only the subject of all issues, but also the main problem of all other commitments in the world, in the conception and assurance of security at the swelled crossroads of Globalization. According to Robert O. Keohane and Joseph D. Nye, globalization is a state of the world of interconnection networks at multinational distances.¹⁰ Networks that can be interconnected through streams and the influence of capital and wares, ideas and information, people and strength¹¹. These developments create realistic opportunities to achieve economic prosperity, to spread political freedom, and to promote peace. However, they also produce powerful forces of social fragmentation, thus creating critical weaknesses, and sowing the seeds of violence and conflict. One should never forget, the great distance of east and west as the birthplace of globalization and the growth of economic crises in this relationship. These are aspects that refer to "globalization," and they all have implications¹².

Security, in general, is not a static state and depends on many parameters. Of particular importance are the state and the opinion of the individual, and society in general regarding the perception of existential threats, their appreciation and willingness to deal with them. It also depends on the dynamics of developments and changes in environmental conditions, the nature of threats, political, economic and health problems, threats of terrorism, threats from cyber-attacks and interstate aggression like the current one of Russia in Ukraine, the wars (Iraq, Libya, Syria), the US-North Korea clashes, climate change, the huge wave of refugees, as well as the collapse of financial systems or their getting out of control. International security is a challenging social situation which will consistently be among the most important topics in the international relations roundtables.

Challenges of International Security in the Crossroads of Globalization

Saving our planet, getting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth … these are all one and in the same war. We need to link the points between climate change, lack of water, lack of energy, global health, and food safety and empowering women. The solutions of a problem should be a solution for everyone.

Ban Ki-Moon

The world is facing old and new security challenges that are far more complex than the managing capabilities of our institutions.¹³ The international security dimension nowadays no longer looks like it did in the last century. Globalization is the most important feature in transforming the international security landscape.¹⁴ It has grown the linkage between societies, and states but at the same time led to shrinking space and time, thus creating more global challenges. It has also brought global public goods.¹⁵ One of the great challenges of this process in our swinging world is that it cannot achieve the same effect on every corner of action during its extension. The diversity of political-, economic-, security- systems, well-being and conceptual ideological, religious differences of national societies are at a great juncture trying to find the "best” or desirable way out. No less disturbing are the inequalities that this process bring.¹⁶ Networking of many factors through this process despite the benefits it brought in some areas, it sneakily enabled the misuse of these networks for illegal activities as well, such as terrorism, organized crime, nuclear contraband as well as human and ware smuggling.

Such abuses should be understood as common problems, manifested through the process of globalization and not be seen as separate problems. If globalization brought these activities and security threats, the fight against them should be done on the same level as well.

The use of networks in illegal activities as well as the creation of secretive norms (Keck and Sikkink 1998), while supporting negative phenomena such as terrorism, drug trafficking, human being trafficking, nuclear smuggling, etc., are the true illustrators of the consequences of globalization in the epistemological picture of international security (Slaughter 2012).¹⁷

But not only these are left as dangerous consequences of the globalization process. Our world has changed. It is facing real crises and dangers. Daily newspapers around the world are overfilled with headlines: Syrian Civil War, Fighting in Ukraine, Turkish-Kurdish Conflict, terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, large crowds and long refugee rows in the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe, major outbreaks of the population in North Africa, dangerous diseases and epidemics, NATO-Russia tensions, Brexit, the US tensions with North Korea, etc. What remains as hope for the people in all this mess? Insecurity and that just for a safer future.

There are wars and war conflicts taking place in the world. Researchers talk about 409 conflicts, of which 223 are manifested by violence.¹⁸ Our world is filling with various problems every day, problems that will fill the cup one day and overload the capacities of international politics together. Institutions with insufficient capacities will be forced to engage with greater intensity in facing new challenges by storing old ones in drawers. Too many patients with multiple complaints at the doors of few doctors cause overload in the diagnosing process and determining the right medication, even more so when a medication does not react the same on all the patients although they all have the same diagnosis. The release of new medicines dims the old ones, but the possibility of the erroneous diagnosis in some patients should not be overlooked either. As broad as the intersection of globalization appears to be, its escapes are narrow. Turning frequently around it just blows the situation even further, whereas the expansion of exit routes around the junction is not a successful solution either. Every delay is a delay, which then turns the solution into a non-solution. Complex problems impose complex solutions. The international security architecture is in a real stress test. The insufficiency of adequate mechanisms and tools that move along with the developments makes it difficult to design effective policies and strategies for detecting, identifying, and quickly targeting the situation which stings the international security. The emergence of risks and threats as well as the confrontation with them in a deeply changed environment, requires tedious running and efficient action. The 21st century rules for international security are not even roughly defined, despite the obvious progress that has been made.¹⁹ Security parameters have changed; they are no longer as in the past. In the past, security was characterized by border security and the limited control of the movement of people and wares. This lasted until the end of the East West conflict.²⁰ This embodied the idea of specific internal and external security spheres. The police, administration, judiciary and civil protection dealt with the inner problem, whereas the diplomacy and the armed forces dealt with the outside ones, and their main responsibility was to avoid risks and possible military attacks. Now, through the process of globalization, security belongs to a new era. The world is undergoing a deep rebalancing of economic power and wealth. It is experiencing many insecurities, the same way as it did 100 years ago. Foreign investment and global supply chains are linking governments, nations as well as markets,²¹ thus establishing a kind of Global Village, but to what extend is this Village an ideal oasis? It certainly is not a romantic place.²² The diversity of interdependence does not always bring good; it also has its hurtful sides. The roads and channels of action within this village do not only contribute to freedom and well-being. Through them circulate as well as organized crime, terrorist groups and many other dangers. Then the products of globalization process are not equally divided among the villagers, and inequalities within them stimulate other security threats. Political, economic and social disparities in this village have a major impact on the international system by fluctuating the wroth, religious, cultural, ideological nods.²³

International Security in a Globalized World - Is It Possible?

One of the biggest challenges in the security field at a global level is dealing with the conceptual security complexity.²⁴ At this level, international security is closely interlinked with interstate security. The security requirements of a state are not sufficient if the requirements of other states are not taken into consideration in the same way²⁵. Unilateral actions do not contribute to security. Globalization has made profound changes that have affected the international space. It is presented to the global achievements of information technology or as we encounter it in literature (distressing distance), the emergence of the global market, and the spread of democracy, which reflects a seemingly global situation in the east. A number of international system democracies have achieved a substantial growth, even the height of economic growth, but not including Africa.²⁶ But looking at the other side the problems that this process brings as risks and threats to international security are just as obvious, such as international organized crime, mass migration, ideological, religious, cultural and ethnic conflicts, spatial degradation, and various pandemics that do not contribute to security. Not less harmful is also the gap that is widening between the rich and old-turning north and the depleted, poor youthful south.²⁷ The post Cold War period is no longer stable as well as less predictable. The threats we face nowadays are multidimensional and widespread. The world today is unsafe.²⁸ The international security system that has been built during the last century is no longer sufficient. It was designed to protect states and their sovereignty by strengthening security between states. The new system under construction is proving almost the opposite. There are no adequate tools and policies for such a system. Old-fashioned state systems do not withstand the flow of new processes. They cannot catch up with the dynamic developments on the ground. Long peace might have put the state's preventive mechanisms to sleep. The sack of risks and violent threats is fully packed and about to burst. The weak states are among the serious problems that emerge. They have become good nests for the new type of terrorism that can stretch its claws to the developed world.²⁹ The Southern and Northern clashes continue to be big. The South represents a permanent threat for the North. It is not treated otherwise from the opposite side either; the only difference is the context. The northern intervention in the south on the pretext, to re-design security strategies, and the real interests of the south to reduce poverty and increase the development of this part of our globe are not perceived as presented. Northern strategies do not match the perceptions of the south, and they differ from region to region.³⁰ There is also a lack of an adequate concrete platform for the approximation of the minds of these poles, therefore the gap between north and south continues to exist and widen further. The interventions to combat negative phenomena such as terrorism seem to have added more long-term problems than they have made quick solutions. Problems like these can deepen the divisions even more and undermine the efforts to achieve international security in the process of globalization. Existing regimes and rules often do not reflect the new threats well, but they are also not able to handle them adequately. Achieving an alternate governing in a global level is still far away. It is as if the hope for a peaceful world has evaporated. The fall of bipolarity left behind a vacuum of security policies "A new global complexity" for which a political pattern has not yet been developed.³¹ There is still a lot of work to do in the positive and negative outcomes about globalization for national security and the impact of globalization on the capacities of some international and national stakeholders as well as institutions for ensuring human security.³² The challenge for international security knows no stop, and this lets us understand that peace and stability are no longer an implicit issue.

Conclusion

A final definition of the international security dimension in such circumstances remains in permanent endeavor. It is at the great juncture of creating a new order. Globalization as a process is still far from universalism and is heavily loaded with globalization ghettos but it is still apparent as a broad spectrum trend. The main problem in this process was the fact that the world was not prepared for activities of such magnitude. The process preceded the preparations thus creating a great distance and detachment between these two. The linking of some areas of international relations has not only brought benefits that are not to be denied. It also brought a negative phenomenon as well as a lot of freedom that certainly did not have the same positive effect on everyone. The misunderstanding of this notion made the situation very difficult and sometimes even led it out of control. Even the chocolate in the empty belly hit counterfeit.

Globalization caused dependence between states and this instead of bringing the states together it actually did the opposite. Differences in achievements through the process of globalization awakened many problems, especially in the states that did not benefit as much as the other states. These clashes did not contribute much to their security nor the international level security. North and South differences continue to be and will remain a major concern for international security, because of the big gap between them. It is as if the crossroads of globalization have confused the entries and exits. Security policies are overly justified; their retrieval takes time and there is no time. Today has become unachievable, and tomorrow is followed up by a new day, of which we know nothing. The interstate alliances are unstable as well. Creating new alliances in the future would seriously undermine international security. States that are trying to produce and possess nuclear weapons are unbalancing the current state of affairs in this regard. The global village is more likely seen as an unmanaged territory rather than a promised land. Our world is really surrounded by many crises and dangers which leads us to asking a very serious and heavy question:

Can a globalized world be managed, and if yes, by whom?

References: