The concept of “security” has long been anchored in the idea of the nation-state
as the preeminent actor in world affairs and the preeminent unit of scholarly
analysis and policy-making. National security, for example, is fundamentally
concerned with ensuring the survival of the state against threats posed
by other states, or by groups and individuals within and outside its territory.
In turn, states are responsible for ensuring the welfare of their respective
populations not only by providing protection against violence, but by enabling
people to meet basic human needs such as obtaining food, health care, employment
and education. In many parts of the world however, these basic needs remain
unfulfilled owing to divergent national priorities as well as limits to
state capacity. In recent decades, there have been attempts to expand the
notion of “security” beyond state-centered perspectives in order to address
regionally and globally shared problems and challenges. Coping with and
preventing disasters, securing food and water resources, providing adequate
health care and dealing with infectious diseases, tapping viable energy
sources and protecting the environment are four important human security
issues that require the effort and cooperation of individuals, groups,
communities and societies. Focusing on the above four issues, this symposium
is concerned with formulating and establishing initiatives that aim to
secure the basic needs of all peoples while taking into account ecological
concerns about the ways in which human society and infrastructure and the
ecosystem that supports all living things can co-exist and benefit each
other.
The main goal of human security development is to empower individuals,
groups, communities, and societies within and across nation-states to come
up with creative, multi-sectoral and integrative solutions to ensuring
their own as well as other people’s, and present as well as future survival,
livelihood, and well-being. These solutions are bottom-up initiatives rather
than top-down prescriptions, and are deeply informed by people’s ground-level
experiences and knowledge. Developing the capacity to work through common
problems and challenges requires the pooling of resources and talent. Human
security development entails creating highly-interlinked networks that
bring people from various sectors across borders in touch with each other
to share experiences, ideas, skills, technologies, and best practices.
Human security development also means putting into place viable and efficient
systems for promoting dialogue, exchange and collaboration, for purposes
including: academic research and networking; delivery of material goods;
sharing of technology; and for building infrastructure, particularly in
Asia.
This symposium seeks to elaborate practical systems and technologies for
dealing with interlinked issues on infection and health, disaster prevention,
food and water, and energy and environment, and to refine the concept of
human security development. The emergence and spread of infectious diseases
are accelerated by limited access to clean water and food. Disasters are
triggered by natural hazards, but their impact on human life is amplified
by vulnerable water, food and energy supply infrastructure and institutions.
Food, water and energy issues must be tackled without sacrificing the welfare
of humans and the environment. Recognizing that these issues have both
global and regional significance and therefore require not only global
but, in particular, regional attention and cooperation, this symposium
will lay the groundwork for expanding and strengthening the academic network
for collaboration and exchange in higher education and research between
Kyoto University and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations University
Network.