Human security in complex operations

Human security has a multifaceted definition which includes the security of individuals rather than states; security from both violence and economic and environmental threats; and security that is established through law rather than through war. It is a concept that can facilitate both the way one understands complex operations and how one designs the toolkit for addressing these risks and dangers. Although related and overlapping, human security is distinct from counterinsurgency. Defeating insurgents may be a means to achieving the goal of human security. For counterinsurgency efforts, human security enhances the holistic security paradigm. Critics of the concept of human security argue that is either too soft or a cover for neoimperialism, and that human security either captures what is already done in practice or is a utopian, unachievable aspiration.