The Human Security Doctrine for Europe: A View from Below

Abstract

This article offers a critical perspective on the Human Security Doctrine for Europe both from a global and regional (Balkan) perspective. Having securitized the human security concept, the doctrine tries to legitimize a certain global political agenda that is based on the understanding of human security as a justification for an emerging system of global governance. Instead of promotion of the EU as a peace project, the doctrine may serve as one more instance of the ongoing militarization of the Union. One can argue that its value to recipient countries would be small, while it serves to boost the EU’s ambitions to become a serious actor in a world dominated by biopolitical rationale. The article argues that, instead of being a form of foreign and security policy of global actors, human security should rather be promoted as a form of internal policy focused on human rights, especially in the socioeconomic sphere in post- or pre-conflict societies.