20 Years of Human Security: A Special Focus on Political Security

Security used to be defined in military terms with the state as the referent of security. From this state-centric lens, political security means the stability of the state’s political regime and social order. Human security shifts away from the statecentric approach and takes people as the referent of security. Against its many definitions, human security is often defined as freedom from fear and freedom from want. Political security, a key element of the freedom from fear, refers to the realization of the civil-political aspect of human rights, such as electoral rights, freedom from violence and abuse and freedom of religion, association and expression. Hence, political security encompasses both state-centric and people-centred approaches and they are mutually reinforcing. If a state is politically insecure, its citizens often face high risks of human rights violations. Political insecurity of people can be the cause and trigger of state instability. For instance, political protests that demand reform have turned violent in recent years, like those in Thailand and Cambodia most recently.