Security issues in the post Cold War era : illegal immigration case study

Abstract

The end of the Cold War brought to bear a number of realities in the security framework of the 'new world order'. Amidst the euphoria of the breakdown in superpower rivalry were renewed concerns regarding the emergence of a new kind of security concept that was no longer military focused. The complexities of these 'new' security issues, their implications for regional and global security, and the challenges they raised for the international community as well as for national governments, are enough reason to dedicate considerable importance and constant attention towards them. These emergencies are characterised by the use of extreme and inhumane levels of violence resulting in unimaginable human suffering and have, over the last decade, raised many questions and commanded many answers as to their resolvability. The effects of these changes have undermined existing paradigms of world order resulting in a blurring of traditional security policies that have been created in a different time and setting to the one that currently exists. Given this change international organisations/ communities and national governments are being called upon to reassess their interventions in contemporary situations in order to be more effective and more in tune with today's emerging security issues. In order to this however, these organisations have to understand the dynamics of these concerns, which have been accompanied by a conceptual shift in the way one analyses security.