In july 2005, the leaders of the worlds seven major industrial economies(called the g7) plus russia (G8)

met at a resort in scotland for their annual coverence. On july 2, with hundreds of milion people around the world watching on television, a series of rock concerts called live 8 took place in philadelphia, paris, johannesburg, rome, nerlin, moscow, and barrie, canada to pressure world leaders to fight poverty in africa. The largest concert, bringing together about 200.000 people, took place in londons hyde park, and featured paul mccartney, madonna, elton john, and others. Speaking at the johannesburg concert, former south african president nelson mandela told his audience that the worlds g8 leaders had a historic opportunity to open the door to hope and the possiblity of a better future for all. In philadelphia, crowd gathered around the museum of art to hear stevie wonder and other. At berlins brandenburg gate, romes circus maximmus, the palais de versailles outside paris, and moscows red square, crowds also gathered for concerts/ As we saw in chapter 12, the less-developed countries (LDGs), though beset by a host of challenges, are emerging as key actors in the global economy. Only now are serious efforts underway to address poverty, enviromental degradation, and other woes in the LDCs, but progress is slowly being made. Altough the economic output of the developing world as a whole (including China, India, and the rapidly growing countries of southeast asia) accounted for over half the global total in 2005, these countries still account for most of the global poor. And looming above effort to overcome global poverty is the need for honest and energetic leadership in many LDCs. As long as these countries are governed by corrupt leaders and lack good governance, they will be unable to overcome the poverty and the other threats to human security that afflict them. Poverty represents an enduring challenge to human security, especially in the global south. However, until recently, most scholars, especially realist, though of security as involving only military protection of state interest; and, from the beginning of the Westphalian era until the end of the cold war, the problem of security in global politics was limited to threat of foreign invasion or attack. Although this problem still looms large, the security agenda has grown dramtically in recent years. Survival and well-being require more than military protection, and the concept of human security, developed mainly by liberals, takes account of this. Peoples lives and welfare are also threatened by crime, disease, civil strife, hunger, poverty and, as we saw in chapter 10, human rights abuses that may trigger masive refugee flow. According to canadian diplomat rob mcrae, the idea of human security takes the individual as nexus of this concern, the life as lived, as the true lens through which we should view the political, economic, and social environment. At its most basic level, human security means freedom from fear. This chapter examines the major challenges to human security. It begins by exploring the concept and then turns to the challenge of poverty that many observers regard as the most pervaise and enduring threat to human security, and examines efforts to achieve economic development. Among the poverty-related issues we survey are foreign investment and foreign aid, acces to global markets, and global debt. Impoverished countries are especially vulnerable to a variety of other ills, including the problem of transnational crime that threatens personal safety and economic well-being, the global arms trade that fosters violence, and the complex issue of refugees and migrants. As you read this chapter, keep in mind that several dimensions of human security are closely related. For example, the spread of disease like HIV/AIDS is both a cause and consequence of poverty; poverty creates incentives for crime and coruption, while perpetuating the very poverty that contributed to them in the first place

The idea of human security In contrast to realist who remain focused on traditional military dimension of security, liberal theorists have long recognized that famine, disease, crime and natural disasters cost far more lives than do wars but, until recently, few countries were concerned about the welfare of individuals other that their own citizens. For their part, contructivists view human security as an evolving idea that is now taking root in global politics. Yet, even now, while securing human security has become a central pillar of the foreign policies of few countries like canada, it attracts less attention and funding than does military security. The un economic and social council and the specialized agencies (chapter 9, p. 413) are responsible for improving human security. The un has sponsored a variety of conferences dealing with human security issues, and some have been controversial. The 1992 un conference on environment and development , or Earth summit, in rio de janeiro, set out enviromental goals that highlighted the trade-off between environmental degradation and economic development. As we saw in chapter 10, two other conferences, the 1994 un conference on population and development in cairo and the 1995 un world conference on women in beijing, produced heated debates on women rights. The un also sponsors a variety of programs through the general assembly that deal with human security issues. The un childrens fund(unicef), for example, is responsible for improving the welfare of children worldwide. The world food program seeks to alleviate the threat of famine. The un relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east (UNRWA) has become a giant welfare agency for palestinians housed in refugee camp in gaza, the west bank, and lebanon The idea of human security owes much to economist jeffrey sachs. Recently, sach elaborated a detailed nine-step plan to eliminate global poverty, that argues kills thousands daily, by 2025. His plan requires relatively little additional foreign aid from wealthy countries, but the very poor, he argued, do need help in reaching the first rung on the ladder of economic development to start the process of development, an achievement that he sees as not simply morally right but critical to global stability and security more generally. Sachs emphasized how poor countries can help themselves, especially with assistance from international economic agences like the world bank and imf, and why they should seek to intergrate themselves in globalizing market economy. The problem of poverty, in his view, is multifaceted, involving several dimensions, including the absence of capital investment, crippling debt, disease and ill-health, political instability, lack of education, ecological degradation, and inappropriate technology. Persuaded that sachs ideas would bear fruit, the philanthropist george soros (1930-) contributed $50 million to support the effort. Sach has been an advisor to un secretary-general kofi annan, and his ideas strongly influenced the formulation of the uns millenium goals as well as the effort to reduce the debt burden of the poorest countries. many of major issues that constitute human security can be found in eight millenium goals that were endorsed at a UN-sponsored conference in 2000. These goals, to be met by 2015, are: Reduce by half both the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and who suffer from hunger. Achieve universal primary education. Promote gender equality by reducing gender disparity in education.

Reduce mortality by two-thirds among children under 5 Improve maternal health Combat hiv/aids, malaria, and other disease. Reduce by half those without acces to safe drinking water and improving the lives of at least 100 milion slum dwellers. Develop an open and non-discriminatory trading and financial system to provide developing states with acces to markets of developed states, and reduction or cancellation of debts owed by poor states

Realistically, it is unlikely that these goals will be met because major states are reluctant to provide sufficient resources.