Abstract
Figures compiled by the Department for International Development (DfID) suggest that between 50000 and 100000 people, more than half of them children under five, died in the 2011 Horn of Africa crisis that affected Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. The US government estimates separately that more than 29000 children under five died in the space of 90 days from May to July last year. The accompanying destruction of livelihoods, livestock and local market systems affected 13 million people overall. Hundreds of thousands remain at continuing risk of malnutrition (http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp-dangerous-delay-horn-africa-drought-180112-en.pdf, 2012). The threats to human security are multiple, complex and interrelated and often mutually reinforcing. The complexity view of the human security domain facilitated by Actor Network Theory (ANT) is supported by methods of network analysis and computational simulation that highlight how dynamic networked strategies associated with human security require a continuing process of inquiry, adaptation and learning. Through this analysis emerge critical insights regarding human security policy and the shaping of interventions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Save the Children (2012) A dangerous delay: the cost of late response to early warnings in the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa. Joint Agency briefing paper. Available at http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp-dangerous-delay-horn-africa-drought-180112-en.pdf
Sommaruga C (2004) The global challenge of human security. Foresight 6(4):208–211
United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (2009) Human security in theory and practice: applications of the human security concept and the United Nations trust fund for human security, pp 1–79. United Nations, New York
Masys AJ (2010) Fratricide in air operations: opening the black box- revealing the social. PhD dissertation, University of Leicester, UK
Masys AJ (2012) Black swans to grey swans—revealing the uncertainty. Disaster Prev Manag 21(3):320–335
Wilkinson A, Eidinow E (2008) Evolving practices in environmental scenarios: a new scenario typology. Environ Res Lett 3:1–11
Dooley KJ, Corman SR, McPhee RD, Kuhn T (2003) Modeling high-resolution broadbrand discourse in complex adaptive systems. Nonlinear Dyn Psychol Life Sci 7(1):61–85. 2003
Walby S (2003) Complexity theory, globalisation and diversity. Presented to the conference of the British Sociological Association, University of York
Mitleton-Kelly E (2004) Complex systems and evolutionary perspectives on organisations: the application of complexity theory to organisations
Yeung HWC (2003) Towards a relational economic geography: old wine in new bottles? Paper presented at the 98th annual meeting of the association of American geographers, Los Angeles, CA, March 19–23, 2003. Available at http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/geoywc/publication/Yeung_AAG.pdf
Latour B (1996) On actor-network theory. A few clarifications. Soz Welt 47:369–381
Latour B (2005) Reassembling the social: an introduction to actor network theory. Oxford University Press, London
Powell JL, Owen T (2011) Actor network theory and social science: possibilities and implications. J Public Adm Gov 1(2):140–157. www.macrothink.org/jpag
Urry J (2005) The complexities of the global. Theory Cult Soc 22(5):235–254
Callon M (1999) Actor-network theory: the market test. In: Law J, Hassard J (eds) Actor network and after. Blackwell Sci./The Sociological Review, Oxford/Keele, pp 181–195
Monteiro E (2000) Actor network theory and information infrastructure. In: Ciborra C (ed) From control to drift. The dynamics of corporate information infrastructures. Oxford University Press, London, pp 71–83. www.idi.ntnu.no/~ericm/ant.FINAL.htm
Latour B (1987) Science in action: how to follow scientists and engineers through society. Open University Press, Milton Keynes
Wickramasinghe N, Tumu S, Bali RK, Tatnall A (2007) Using actor network theory (ANT) as an analytic tool in order to effect superior PACS implementation. Int J Netw Virtual Organ 4(3):257–279
Somerville I (1997) Actor network theory: a useful paradigm for the analysis of the UK cable/online socio-technical ensemble? Available at http://hsb/baylor.edu/eamsower/ais.ac.97/papers/somervil.html
Viseu AAB (2005) Augmented bodies: the visions and realities of wearable computers. PhD dissertation, University of Toronto
Comfort LK (2005) Risk, security and disaster management. Annu Rev Pol Sci 8:335–356
Styhre A (2002) Non-linear change in organizations: organization change management informed by complexity theory. Leadersh Organ Dev J 23(6):343–351
Dennis K (2007) Time in the age of complexity. Time Soc 16:139–155
Barnes M, Matka E, Sullivan H (2003) Evidence, understanding and complexity: evaluation in non-linear systems. Evaluation 9(3):265–284
Anderson R, Crabtree B, Steele D, McDaniel R (2005) Case study research: the view from complexity science. Qual Health Res 15(5):669–685
Mitleton-Kelly E, Papaefthimiou MC (2000) Co-evolution of diverse elements interacting within a social ecosystem. In: Proceedings of feast 2000 international workshop on feedback and evolution in software and business processes, Imperial College, London, pp 10–12
Strogatz SH (2001) Exploring complex networks. Nature 410:268–276
Levine S, Crosskey A, Abdinoor M (2011) System failure? Revisiting the problems of timely response to crises in the Horn of Africa. Network paper number 71. Humanitarian Policy Group, Overseas Development Institute
Hollnagel E, Woods DD, Leveson N (2006) Resilience engineering: concepts and precepts. Ashgate Publishing, Hampshire
Braha D, Bar-Yam Y (2006) From centrality to temporary fame: dynamic centrality in complex networks. Complexity 12(2):59–63
Acknowledgements
Grateful acknowledgement is given to Dan Braha, Hiroki Sayama and Yaneer Bar-Yam for their fruitful insights and instruction during the 2011 Winter School on Complex Systems- New England Complex Systems Institute.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Masys, A.J. (2013). Human Security—A View Through the Lens of Complexity. In: Gilbert, T., Kirkilionis, M., Nicolis, G. (eds) Proceedings of the European Conference on Complex Systems 2012. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00395-5_43
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00395-5_43
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-00394-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-00395-5
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)