RETHINKING HUMAN SECURITY IN THE POST-COVID-19 WORLD – LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE HUMAN-CENTRIC APPROACH TO HEALTH SECURITY
RETHINKING HUMAN SECURITY IN THE POST-COVID-19 WORLD – LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE HUMAN-CENTRIC APPROACH TO HEALTH SECURITY

Author(s): Slađana Ćurčić
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Sociology, Security and defense, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: COVID-19; human security; health security; “post-COVID-19 world”
Summary/Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is an example of the health-security nexus, as a topic of increasing importance in security studies. Speaking broadly, this perspective is close to the political construction of the health threats, but depends on the approach to health security we take. Specifically, the aim of this paper is to analyze COVID-19 as a health threat through the human- centric approach to health security and to consider the relevance of this approach in the “post-COVID-19 context”. The research question is: what is the special value of this approach in the conceptualization of COVID-19 and future health security threats, both in terms of theoretical contribution and strategic and policy solutions? The paper is based on an academic literature review, and secondary data analysis relevant to the assessment of the state of human security, like the Human Development Index. The paper is structured as follows: in the introductory part, academic perspectives on health security are presented. Then, through the seven dimensions of the human security concept, it is analyzed how COVID-19 threatened human security. The next part considers the characteristics of a human-centric approach to health security in the COVID-19 context. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the human security analysis of COVID-19 and its importance for the health security field, are discussed. It is concluded that rethinking the human security concept in the post-COVID-19 context could contribute both to clarifying the human-centered approach to health security and redefining the concept of health security itself.

• Details
• Contents