Genesis and Evolution of the Expression ‘Human Security’. A Historical Review

Abstract

This article chronicles the principal changes which have occurred in the area of international security and which have contributed to the apparition of the expression ‘human security’. From a historical point of view, the principal documents and reports that have consolidated the use of this expression are described, and, at the same time, the two main schools of application and promotion of human security are studied: the Canadian and Japanese schools. Likewise, two more reports that have contributed to the expansion and use of the expression are analysed: “The Responsibility to Protect” and “A Human Security Doctrine for Europe”. Finally, the article indicates what the principal challenge is for the application of human security to be consolidated in current debates on international security.

Keywords

• Security
• human security
• theory
• history
• development