International Economic Security

Although the term ‘economic security’ is often invoked by scholars and policy-makers to advance a specific agenda, there is virtually no consensus on how to define it. Some more traditional security analysts would further argue that ‘economic security’ is not even relevant to a text such as this, as it relates only indirectly, if at all, to the core international security problems of war and related forms of organized violence. However, it is also true that many traditional security issues can be linked to economic factors, such as the role of economic investment and technology in fuelling a political rivalry in the form of an arms race (Levy, 1989). As we saw in Chapter 5, the relationship between weak states and intrastate war, particularly in less developed regions, can also be greatly exacerbated by economic problems. Violent conflicts over identity/ethnicity also might have a strong economic class element to them. In addition, the basic measures of globalization as presented in Chapter 2 are primarily defined in terms of cross-border economic transactions, which can easily facilitate the movement of illicit (and therefore threatening) goods, services, and individuals. Finally, the possibility of a global depression or catastrophic financial crisis cannot be discounted and could easily have major security implications. In fact, as this volume is being drafted the world is in a state of economic shock, and the major powers are attempting to devise a coordinated solution to the malaise that could require public spending in the amount of more than one trillion dollars.