This book addresses the concept of ‘The New Security’. The book illustrates the diversity of the concept of security; clarifies how security impacts on individuals and groups; and documents the various responses to this private and public concept. Over many years it has become apparent to me that the notion of security is a desired attribute that comes in many different forms and is both highly objective and subjective. What it means for one person is very likely to be different for another. It is often elusive. This book is an empirically-led contribution to a field that has to date remained largely conceptual.
Because of its broad application, The New Security is likely to be of interest to a diverse and international audience. It contributes to the growing momentum of literature relating to various interpretations and applications of security. It pays tribute to existing work on the topic and acknowledges the conceptual shift of the notion of security into a broader context. This shift enables the term to be considered from the diverse perspectives of people with contemporary societal concerns. The contents address notions of security relating to everyday lives. The conceptual framework is based on five key principles that underpin what is considered ‘the new security’:
- 1.Security is both objective and subjective.
- 2.Security relates to risk and opportunity.
- 3.Security involves interconnecting social influences including education, employment, economic, cultural and other social factors.
- 4.Security extends well beyond national issues and links to people’s everyday lived experiences.
- 5.People have a right to the new security.
Guided by these principles, the notion of security is examined and redefined in Chapter 2. Following the redefining of the concept of security, I present a contemporary view of the notion through various case-studies that relate to the notion of ‘the new security’. The case-studies are based on research I have undertaken that examines different perspectives of ‘security’ through individual, community and cultural experiences. The findings are based on qualitative research involving a total of 246 in-depth interviews conducted in the Unites States (US
), the United Kingdom
(UK), Australia and China and an additional 44 qualitative surveys in Australia. The data is drawn from six separate projects between 2009 and 2016.
The case-studies centre on specific topics including campus security, employment security, housing security, food security and personal
security. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on campus security. Chapter 3 is a comparative study of the topic across the US
, the UK
and Australia, while Chapter 4 is an examination of a ‘Police on Campus’ pilot program in Australia. Chapter 5 looks at employment security and is based on a community in a coastal town in the Australian state of Queensland. The town is challenged by a lack of employment opportunities and proposed Chinese foreign direct investment that promises work for the locals. Chapter 6 examines housing security for international
students
in Australia, the UK
and the US
. The issue of housing security is believed to affect many thousands of international
students
. There are also two chapters on food security, both unique in that they discuss the issue in the context of Australia as a developed nation with broader international impacts. Chapter 7 is dedicated to the problem of food security in the Liverpool Plains in the Australian state of New South Wales. Known as ‘Australia’s
Food Bowl’, the Liverpool Plains is crucial to food
production
for Australia
and beyond, yet the area is threatened by foreign direct investment in the form of a Chinese owned mining venture. Chapter 8 considers the issue of international students and food security, which is a topic that to date has escaped the attention of international education researchers. Chapter 9 considers the notion of personal
security, which introduces new forms of security that are revealed by poignant individual cases. Chapter 10 is the closing chapter – it concludes the book with an overview of the preceding chapters and discusses the significance of the research findings in terms of The New Security.