Human security
There has been a remarkable work in the field of human by many of the scholars worldwide in developing the studies and understanding of human security and its various facets there has been relatively less work in the field of geographical dynamics of human security. This can be possibly a result of magnified focus over the climatic, environmental dimension which also includes the problem of migration forced due to the criticality of the climate change.
Amitav Acharya and Edward Ne
However many thinkers like Amitav Acharya and Edward Ne (Newman, 2010) (Acharya, 2001) and scholars and evaluators researchers on critical geography (Simpson, 2018) have made a proper base on the issue of human security for many of the scholars and researchers. But there is a need to work on the relatively less worked dimension of geographical aspects of human security. Why is it so? Because all the above 7 dimensions of human security mentioned as per the UNDP Report of 1994 (Adger, 2014) and further expanded by DR. Mahbub ul Haq in his concept of the sustainable development Namely: Economic Security, Food Security, Health Security, Environmental Security, Personal, Community and Political contain themselves in a wide geographic umbrella which needs to be comprehensively worked upon.
Tim Marshall
Tim Marshall (Marshall, Prisoners Of Geography, 2016) (Marshall, Power Of Geography, 2021) in his both the books mentions the power and importance of geography of a particular state and its people and how geography many a times dictate the societal living conditions of the people living in various nations in the continents of Africa, Eurasia and etc. For e.g. – People and states of Africa despite living on a bed of resources are suffering from excessive poverty and being disorganized, this can be partially attributed to the geography of that particular region (Leong, 1974) G.C Leong in his gives us the exact account of the various areas of Africa wherein the countries lying in the Central African Equatorial areas starting from SEED Countries till the Ivory Coast areas facing the issue of lack of development due to excessive vegetation because of these countries lying in the Hot wet Equatorial Belt of 5-10 degree latitude which results in the problem of lumbering hindering the development work in the remote areas. Furthermore, the Saharan and Sahel Belt of countries due to the extreme weather conditions are now resulting a belt of extremist elements like the ISIS, Boko Haram and other terrorist organization which is a chain reaction caused due to the lack of development and lack of the control of countries in their particular geography. All od these examples can be mentioned again and again and it leads to one important aspect of GEOGRAPHY v/s The human Security Dilemma and thus I really feel there is a serious need to develop the scope of geography as an important area of study towards the dynamics of the Human security.
Michael Palin
There always a saying on Geography as quoted by Michael Palin “Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future” and how geography has always been constant despite the history changing people change includes the genetics but geography of that particular nation has always influenced the outlook the way the people view the relations with respect to the other neighbours. Many of countries like Russia in the present post 2022 Ukrainian operations have been a direct reference of the fact that protecting a particular topographical terrain like the Carpathian Mountains which is also called as the “Soviet Red Line” (Marshall, Prisoners Of Geography, 2016) has resulted into fact that Russia’s concern over the Human security for its own citizens and the need to ensure the critical trade lines and warm water ports as well as a strategic buffer for itself to control its territorial integrity and sovereignty have led a geopolitical and geographical disaster and a human security threat to the survival of Ukrainians and thus proving an example that ignoring the geographical limitations of a country and a particular area can lead to an issue of Human Security.
Clashes between the Kukis and the Meitei in Manipur
Lets take the recent examples, (Mojib, 2023) the recent clashes between the Kukis and the Meitei in Manipur who were clashing with each other for the past one month over the various economic, social and the political benefits provided under the 9th schedule of the Indian constitution which has been the major bone of contention (Bose, 2023) however the issue dwells deeper then that wherein the news media outlets are missing the major point of the decades old issue which is the geographical placement of these following communities. The Meitei who are primarily Vaishnavites are primarily settled in the valleys and had access to prominent agriculture and other resources vis-à-vis the Kuki of the Nagas to the hills tribes who occupied the major hills areas of the Imphal hills (Roy, 2023). Anthropologist James C Scott outlines how state formation tendencies in these valleys creates sections that are “non-state” that inhabit the hills. At the core of this distinction between state and non-state is “surplus”. So even in this situation the geography and the demographic distribution of that particular area can be taken into account.
So concluding that, In all these ways geography can emerge as an important dimension of comprehensive human security studies and yet despite all the various examples of climate change, environment dynamics emerging as subset of the Human security field. If one needs to understanding how all of the above 7 factors work towards human security then geography is a prerequisite among them. But, Unfortunately the study of geography has merely restricted to Geographers and thinkers and scholars in Geopolitics and its use in human security by researchers is still in the Nascent Stage and thus in future can emerge as a critical dimension in theorizing the various dynamics in the field of Human Security studies and developing the scope of geography as an element in the Field of human security.
Indian government issues shoot at sight order in the state of Manipur
