This Handbook will serve as a standard reference guide to the subject of human security, which has grown greatly in importance over the past twenty years. Human Security is defined by the UN as “human security is an approach to assist Member States in identifying and addressing widespread and cross-cutting challenges to the survival, livelihood and dignity of their people.” Human security has been part of academic and policy discourses since it was first promoted by the UNDP in its 1994 Human Development Report. Filling a clear gap in the current literature, this volume brings together some of the key scholars and policy-makers who have contributed to its emergence as a mainstream concept, including Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen and Sadako Ogata, who jointly chaired the 2001 Commission on Human Security. Drawing upon a range of theoretical and empirical analyses, the Handbook provides examples of the use of human security in policies as diverse as disaster management, arms control and counter-terrorism, and in different geographic and institutional settings from Asia to Africa, and with the UN. It also raises important questions about how the concept might be adapted and made operational in future.

Part I. Concepts of human security -- part II. Human security applications -- part III. Human security actors -- part IV. Human security tools.