The suffering and death inflicted by last December's tsunami and Hurricane Katrina shows the need to reframe security in human terms.
Human security puts the individual at the center of the debate, analysis and policy. He or she is paramount, and the state is a collective instrument to protect human life and enhance human welfare. The fundamental components of human security -- the security of people against threats to personal safety and life -- can be put at risk by external aggression, but also by factors within a country, including "security" forces like the police, paramilitary and soldiers.
The reformulation of national security into the concept of human security is simple, yet has profound consequences for how we see the world, how we organize our political affairs, how we make choices in public and foreign policy, and how we relate to fellow-human beings from many different countries and civilizations.