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Security in the Contemporary World – Class 12 Political Science Chapter 5 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 12Political ScienceChapter 5NCERT book: Contemporary World Politics - Political Science Class 12

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 5 of the NCERT Class 12 Political Science book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 5: Security in the Contemporary World

Introduction

We often hear that an issue is a matter of 'national security' — implying it is too important or secret to be debated. But in a democracy, citizens need to understand what security means. This chapter introduces two ways of looking at security — traditional and non-traditional — and stresses that contexts and situations shape our view of it. It ends with India's security strategy. The 1994 UNDP Human Development Report observed that security "has for too long been interpreted narrowly… more related to nation states than people."

Key Concepts & Events

1. What is Security?

  • At its most basic, security means freedom from threats. But if every threat counted, the world would be saturated with security issues.
  • So security relates only to extremely dangerous threats that could damage core values beyond repair. Yet security remains a "slippery idea" — societies differ over time and place.

    • 2. Traditional Notions: External

  • The greatest danger is military threat from another country, endangering sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity — and ordinary citizens' lives.
  • A government facing war has three choices: surrender; prevent attack by raising the costs of war (deterrence); or fight back to deny the attacker its objectives (defence).
  • Balance of power: governments watch stronger countries and build military, economic and technological power to keep a favourable balance.
  • Alliance building: coalitions of states, usually formalised in treaties, to deter or defend against attack. Alliances follow national interests and can change — e.g., the US backed Islamic militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, but attacked them after Al Qaeda's 11 September 2001 strikes.
  • In world politics there is no central authority; the UN has authority only to the extent members allow. So each country must be responsible for its own security.

    • 3. Traditional Notions: Internal

  • After 1945, powerful countries seemed internally secure and focused on external threats, especially during the Cold War; some European powers faced colonial wars (the French in Vietnam, the British in Kenya).
  • Newly independent Asian and African states faced two kinds of threats: conflict with neighbours and internal separatist movements — sometimes merged when a neighbour instigated separatism.
  • The Cold War caused about one-third of post-war wars, mostly in the Third World. Internal wars now make up more than 95 per cent of armed conflicts; between 1946 and 1991 civil wars rose twelve-fold.

    • 4. Traditional Security and Cooperation

  • Limits on war: go to war only for right reasons (self-defence or protecting people from genocide); avoid harming non-combatants; use force only after alternatives fail.
  • Disarmament — giving up certain weapons: Biological Weapons Convention (1972) and Chemical Weapons Convention (1997).
  • Arms control — regulating weapons: ABM Treaty (1972), SALT II, START, and the NPT (1968), which let countries that had tested nuclear weapons before 1967 keep them while others gave up the right to acquire them. The NPT limited, not abolished, nuclear weapons.
  • Confidence building — rivals share information about military intentions and forces to avoid war through misunderstanding.
  • In the traditional view, force is both the principal threat and the principal means of security.

    • 5. Non-Traditional Notions

  • They widen the referent — "Security for who?" — from the state to individuals, communities and humankind. They are called human security or global security.
  • Human security protects people more than states. Secure states do not automatically mean secure people: in the last 100 years, more people were killed by their own governments than by foreign armies.

    • - Narrow concept: protection from violence ("protection of communities and individuals from internal violence" — Kofi Annan).

    - Broad concept: also hunger, disease and natural disasters, which kill more than war, genocide and terrorism combined.

    - Broadest: economic security and human dignity — 'freedom from want' and 'freedom from fear'.

  • Global security emerged in the 1990s to meet global threats like global warming, terrorism and epidemics. A 1.5–2 m sea-level rise would flood 20% of Bangladesh and most of the Maldives.

    • 6. New Sources of Threats

  • Terrorism: political violence that targets civilians deliberately and indiscriminately; attention rose after the 11 September 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre.
  • Human rights: three types — political; economic and social; rights of colonised people and ethnic/indigenous minorities. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the Rwanda genocide and killings in East Timor raised debate on UN intervention.
  • Global poverty: world population (760 crore) may reach nearly 1000 crore by mid-century; half the growth is in six countries — India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia. Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region, has most armed conflicts.
  • Migrants and refugees: migrants leave voluntarily; refugees flee war, disaster or persecution; those displaced within borders are internally displaced people (e.g., Kashmiri Pandits in the early 1990s). From 1990 to 1995, 70 states fought 93 wars, killing about 55 lakh people.
  • Health epidemics: HIV-AIDS (about 4 crore infected by 2003, two-thirds in Africa), bird flu, SARS, Ebola; mad-cow disease cost Britain billions.
  • Not everything is a security issue — a threat must endanger the very existence of the referent (e.g., rising seas for the Maldives; the killing of nearly five lakh Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994).

    • 7. Cooperative Security

  • Non-traditional threats need cooperation — bilateral, regional or global — involving international organisations, NGOs, businesses and figures such as Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela. Force is a last resort, better when sanctioned collectively.

    • 8. India's Security Strategy

  • Strengthening military capabilities — conflicts with Pakistan (1947–48, 1965, 1971, 1999) and China (1962); nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998.
  • Strengthening international norms and institutions — Nehru's support for Asian solidarity, decolonisation, disarmament and the UN; a universal, non-discriminatory non-proliferation regime; the NIEO; non-alignment; the Kyoto Protocol; UN peacekeeping.
  • Meeting internal challenges — militant groups in Nagaland, Mizoram, Punjab and Kashmir; preserving unity through democracy.
  • Developing the economy to lift citizens out of poverty and reduce inequality.

    • Timeline

  • 1968 — Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
  • 1972 — Biological Weapons Convention; ABM Treaty
  • 1974 — India's first nuclear test
  • 1994 — UNDP Human Development Report on human security; Rwanda genocide
  • 1997 — Chemical Weapons Convention; Kyoto Protocol
  • 1998 — India's nuclear tests
  • 11 September 2001 — Terrorist attacks on the US

    • Perspectives as Presented

  • Traditional thinkers see military force as central; non-traditional thinkers argue human beings, not just states, must be secure.
  • Some argue the UN Charter permits intervention for human rights; others say powerful states' interests decide when it acts.

    • Board Exam Focus

  • Match: CBMs — exchange of defence information; arms control — regulates weapons; alliance — coalition to deter attack; disarmament — giving up weapons.
  • Q: Traditional vs non-traditional security? Outline: referent (state vs people/humankind), threats (military vs terrorism, poverty, disease, environment), means (force vs cooperation); alliances belong to traditional security.
  • Q: Components of India's security strategy? Outline: the four components above with examples.

    • Key Terms

  • Security (सुरक्षा)
  • Core Values (मूलभूत मूल्य)
  • Deterrence (अपरोध / निवारण)
  • Defence (रक्षा)
  • Balance of Power (शक्ति-संतुलन)
  • Alliance (गठबंधन)
  • Disarmament (निःशस्त्रीकरण)
  • Arms Control (अस्त्र-नियंत्रण)
  • Confidence Building (विश्वास बहाली)
  • Human Security (मानवता की सुरक्षा)
  • Global Security (विश्व सुरक्षा)
  • Terrorism (आतंकवाद)
  • Internally Displaced People (आंतरिक रूप से विस्थापित जन)
  • Cooperative Security (सहयोगमूलक सुरक्षा)

    • Common Mistakes

  • Confusing disarmament (giving up weapons) with arms control (regulating them).
  • Calling the NPT a disarmament treaty — the book calls it arms control.
  • Treating migrants and refugees as the same.
  • Classifying alliances as non-traditional security — they are traditional.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Security means freedom from extremely dangerous threats to core values
    • ✓Traditional security: deterrence, defence, balance of power and alliances against external military threats
    • ✓Cooperation within traditional security: disarmament, arms control and confidence building
    • ✓Non-traditional (human and global) security and new threats — terrorism, poverty, migration, epidemics
    • ✓India's four-part security strategy: military strength, international norms, internal unity, economic development

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Begin by asking students who decides their security, echoing the book's opening question
    • →Run the four-villages role-play (Kotabagh, Gewali, Kandali, Goppa) to model resource conflicts
    • →Classify newspaper stories of a week into traditional and non-traditional threats
    • →Use a two-column chart contrasting traditional and non-traditional security
    • →Discuss the Rwanda and Maldives examples to show that security threats depend on context
    • →Map activity: plot security threats across Africa as suggested in the book
    • →Debate: 'Nuclear weapons have limited use against contemporary threats'

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the student define security and explain why it covers only extreme threats?
    2. Can the student explain deterrence, defence, balance of power and alliances?
    3. Can the student distinguish disarmament, arms control and confidence building with examples?
    4. Can the student classify threats as traditional or non-traditional?
    5. Can the student describe the components of India's security strategy?

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    Keep learning

    All chapters in Contemporary World Politics - Political Science Class 12

    1. 1. The End of Bipolarity
    2. 2. Contemporary Centres of Power
    3. 3. Contemporary South Asia
    4. 4. International Organisations
    5. 5. Security in the Contemporary World
    6. 6. Environment and Natural Resources
    7. 7. Globalisation