Insecurity Dilemma in the Third World

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QUESTION: Discuss the insecurity dilemma in the third world states The insecurity dilemma is a term that was developed by Brian L. Job, an international relations scholar, to describe the challenge faced by most developing nations in defining what security is and how to provide it for their people. However, before exploring the term “insecurity dilemma” in the third world, it’s pertinent to define two concepts, that is, “third world states” and “security”. Understanding the third world and the concept of security The concept of the third world was birthed by a Frenchman Alfread’Sauvy to describe countries that did not fit in neither the first nor the second worlds. The third world, is defined as a group of countries, which have colonial histories and are in the process of developing economically and socially from a status characterized by low incomes, dependence on agriculture, weakness in trading relations, social deprivation for large segments of society and restricted political and civil liberties (Smith, 2003, p. 1). Such countries are found in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Middle East. Security, on the other hand, means different things to various scholars. One scholar Muhammad Ayoob says that, in international relations; security has conventionally been used to mean immunity (to varying degrees) of a state of nation to threats emanating from outside its boundaries (Ayoob, Winter, 1983-1984, p. 41). Another scholar, Walter Lippmann defined security as the extent to which a nation ‘is not in danger of having to sacrifice its core values, if it wishes to avoid war and is able, if challenged, to maintain them by victory in such war in international relations. The term has also traditionally been defined to mean immunity (to varying degrees) of a state of nation to threats emanating from outside its boundaries… ‘a nation is secure to the extent to which it

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