Contextualizing human security: A ‘deprivation–vulnerability’ approach

Devising a more precise operational definition of human security has been elusive, hampering efforts to create an effective global framework. This article develops a framework for operationalizing a development-oriented approach to human security that establishes clear research and policy priorities. The analysis stakes out a middle ground between expansive and narrower human security approaches revealing they are not as polarized as sometimes portrayed, and argues that human security and human development are distinct but complementary; whereas the former is a relative condition and the latter is a longer-term process. The paper proposes a deprivation–vulnerability approach to human security, based on the analysis of threats and vulnerabilities conditioned by deprivations and exclusions, and takes initial steps at developing a human security risk management model that initially prioritizes populations more vulnerable to harm.