In this video, we look at the language in which security problems are typically discussed. We see how quite small nuances of language can result in the unwary listener or reader being manipulated into accepting a particular interpretation or course of action. These techniques are not peculiar to the security area, of course, but they can have particularly dangerous consequences if we do not learn to guard against them.
In this video we look at ways of understanding and bringing some logic to the mass of security problems in the world. We see that, in the absence of agreed definitions, the definition and treatment of security problems is essentially a political activity, subject to fashion as well as the traditional balance of political forces. A distinction is proposed between primary security problems, which exist right now, and secondary problems, which might, in time, generate primary ones. Migration is discussed as an example.
In this video, we look at some major security problems. Some problems are genuinely new, and need to be thought about. Others are examples of old problems in a new guise, or new problems being assimilated into older ways of thinking. It is suggested that the major security problems of the future will come from the progressive disintegration of the liberal democratic state, not just in Europe but, more importantly, in Africa and the Middle east. The future may belong to organisations like the Islamic State.
