Human Security with an Asian Face?

The combination of Asia’s growing material power and its longstanding commitment to principles of sovereignty and noninterference raises questions about the future of post-Cold War concepts of international law and global governance, especially the concept of “human security.” This article analyzes what the emergence of an Eastphalian order might mean for efforts to improve human security. First, it briefly analyzes the concept of human security and its relevance to international law and global governance in the early twenty-first century. Second, I explore why the Asian region might constitute an interesting laboratory for the human security project despite the longstanding commitment of Asian countries to the principles of sovereignty and noninterference. Third, I examine the relevance of Confucian thinking in order to see whether this powerful philosophical heritage of many Asian societies contains insight that will help shape the evolution of Asian perspectives on human security. Fourth, the article briefly considers Japan’s efforts to embrace the human security concept in its foreign policy, especially its development assistance. Finally, it considers whether the emergence of a more Asian-centric international system can develop a distinctive Asian contribution to the problems the concept of human security was developed to address. While some scholars have expressed worry that the rise of Asian countries in world politics may threaten the future of human security as a concept and policy objective, whether such a threat actually emerges depends on how Asian countries perceive human security in light of their philosophical heritage, political principles, and material interests. Predicting the trajectory of human security in an Eastphalian order proves a very complicated task.