Human security and multiculturalism

Bašić, Goran (2015) Human security and multiculturalism. In: Twenty years of human security : theoretical foundations and practical applications. Faculty of Security Studies : Institut Français de Géopolitique, Belgrade ; Paris, pp. 115-127. ISBN 978-86-84069-94-0

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Abstract

This paper discusses the relationship between the ethnic nature of modern multicultural societies and the public security. Security is a human right, and providing it is essential for protecting the life, dignity and freedom of citizens. Requests for the protection and equality of ethno-cultural identities and the creation of social relations in which ethnic and cultural differences are not a stability barrier, arise from the people’s needs for not only their personal and civil rights, but also group and cultural rights. In an effort to recognize the requirements for the protection of ethno-cultural identity and thus provide stability and development, the modern liberal state has redefined the paradigm of ethno-cultural neutrality and through the process of globalization developed a policy for “reducing cultural differences” whose main levers are the principles of equality, tolerance and respect for diversity. The responses of nation-states to the challenges of multiculturalism in the 21st century differ vastly among themselves: from the acceptance of the idea of human security in the immediate multicultural environment as the basis for development; through recognition of different forms of autonomy and self-government of national minorities; to the sharp opposition to the demands of the minorities for the secession or recognition of political autonomy of the ethnically homogeneous areas within the modern state. Contemporary politics of multiculturalism, that have been roughly criticized by the heads of the “Western democracy” states at the beginning of 21st century, are marked with the fear of terrorism, fear and misunderstanding of Islam and the syndrome that “the colonies colonized colonizers” (highly increased number of the immigrants from the former colonies in Africa and Asia in the European countries). Western Balkan countries, after a period political ethnification and ethnic conflicts at the end of the last century, have specific policies of monocultural multiculturalism” as the answer to the challenges of multiculturalism. The policy of “monocultural multiculturalism” recognizes the minority rights in accordance with international standards, but also their social segregation and maintenance of their high ethnic distance. The problem of inter-ethnic relations in the Balkans is rooted in the theory of the state reason and the concept of national security. There are several critical areas where ethnicity poses more as the obstacle for establishing stability and development than as the momentum of cultural interaction and regional stability. In such a constellation, the concept of human security gains importance only as the mechanism for preventing the conflicts and eliminating their consequences. At first glance, it seems that human security concept has no theoretical and political response to the contemporary challenges of multiculturalism; it seems that the citizen has been defeated by the state. However, during the middle of the last century, the similar situation was similar with the recognition and realization of human rights. Various social movements, born in a multicultural basket, consistently insisting on recognition of the identity of minorities changed the liberal ideology and the state, and urged the recognition and protection of human rights as the universal value and priority. It is that tradition in which these changes have occurred, that is the firmest foothold of the human security strategy.

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