Traditionally, security has been concerned with understanding the causes of war and, conversely, the conditions for peace. In part, fixation on the security of the state and military strength reflected the concerns of the protagonists of the Cold War - the United States and the Soviet Union, and their respective allies. Confined to the straitjacket of bipolarity, security was seen in such staid concepts as the balance of power, deterrence, massive retaliation and flexible response. However, in a post-Cold War environment, this Clausewitzian view of security is increasingly attacked by new security thinking.

Ken Booth1 has argued that redefining security requires broadening the concept both `horizontally and vertically'. Expanding the concept horizontally involves creating an agenda that recognises security as being as dependent on factors such as political democracy, human rights, social and economic development, and environmental sustainability, as it is on military stability. To expand the concept vertically involves recognising that people should be the primary referent of security. In this way, it becomes possible to identify threats to human security that emerge at sub-national, national and transnational levels.

Southern Africa, in the post-Cold War, post-apartheid era, has also been plagued by a variety of traditional and more contemporary human security concerns. These range from mass migrations to disease; from poverty to small-arms proliferation; from a lack of democracy to the emergence of virulent ethnic nationalism; and from environmental degradation to drug trafficking. In order to understand regional security better and to foster more harmonious forms of interaction between the states of Southern Africa, the Institute for Defence Policy (IDP) has recently launched its Human Security Project (HSP). The project aims to serve the following purposes:

• to conduct research and publish its results in Southern Africa on the status of regional insecurity with a particular focus on the movement of peoples and its associated effects as a source of regional insecurity;
  
  

• to analyse the impact of such movement at local, national and especially at the regional level;
  
  

• to liaise with researchers, government and non-government agencies in Southern Africa to exchange information, interpretation and results of field work;
  
  

• to analyse the international comparative dimensions of population movements, insecurity and regional integration, and to draw lessons for Southern Africa;
  
  

• to provide policy options and propose practical measures to deal with the problem of population movement and the associated regional insecurity in Southern Africa;
  
  

• to enhance the local research capacity within the region through an internship mechanism; and
  
  

• to liaise internationally to share the information with other regions and with specific researchers, institutes and non-government actors with an interest in population movement, regional insecurity and integration in Southern Africa.

The objective of the study would be to provide verifiable facts and policy options to the national, regional and international communities on the issue of population movement and the associated status of insecurity and regional integration in Southern Africa, and on the socio-economic, security, political and environmental consequences of such movements. By doing so, the project in itself becomes a confidence-building measure between countries in the region. By sharing in the research and interacting with each other, participating Southern African scholars and practitioners will be in a position to disseminate information and influence policy formulation. Furthermore, the project will generate collaborative mechanisms between the countries in the region and with different sectors in each country.

This initial monograph aims to provide an overview of some of the areas which will be investigated under the auspices of the Human Security Project.

In the first article, Solomon and Cilliers identifies the various sources of insecurity in Southern Africa - population growth, mass migrations, lack of food security, disease, ethnocentric nationalism, small-arms proliferation, the poor record of political pluralism and civil-military relations, and a lack of economic growth. Each of these sources of regional insecurity is, in turn, discussed and the question is posed whether regional integration is the best way to solve these transnational security threats.

The issue of regional co-operation is once more raised in Swatuk's penetrating analysis of environmental security in Southern Africa. He argues that many of the region's problems stem in large part from the nature of uneven and inconsistent capitalist development. Swatuk also notes that, if the region is to move towards a sustainable and prosperous future, it must move together, for eco-systems do not respect any political boundaries. Questions of resource use and sustainability must be approached within a regional framework.

The final article by Solomon investigates population movement as a source of insecurity. Solomon looks at South Africa's perceived debt towards the region and expounds upon the ambiguity of international law with regard to migration. He questions the efficacy of existing control measures and concludes with proposed strategic responses to the problem. In this, he argues for an interventionist approach based on comprehensive bilateral agreements between South Africa and its various neighbours.

Endnote

K Booth, A Security Regime in Southern Africa: Theoretical Considerations, Southern African Perspectives, 30, 1994, p. 3.