Non-Traditional Security: Implications for Public Governance of Food Security as an Issue
Keywords:
Food security, Non-traditional security, Securitization, Global governance, Human securityAbstract
Food security is increasingly recognized as a non-traditional security issue with far reaching implications for social stability, state legitimacy, and global governance. Unlike traditional militaristic security threats, food insecurity emerges through interconnected economic, environmental, political, and institutional dynamics. This article aims to analyze how food security is constructed as a non-traditional security issue within the framework of global governance, and how these dynamics are reflected through empirical indicators such as malnutrition, global food crises, carbon emissions, fiscal capacity, and democratic quality. This study employs a qualitative approach with secondary data analysis based on large-scale qualitative data sources drawn from FAO, Our World in Data, V-Dem, the World Peace Foundation, and UNU WIDER. The data are analyzed interpretively using securitization theory to examine processes of threat framing and their resulting policy implications. The findings indicate that food security in Indonesia and globally remains fragile and is strongly shaped by structural factors such as climate change, limited fiscal capacity, fluctuations in political stability, and fragmentation in global governance. Food security is demonstrated to be not merely a technical issue of production, but a non-traditional security threat with the potential to heighten risks of social instability and crises of state legitimacy. While the securitization of food has received significant political attention, it has not yet fully ensured sustainable human security protection. This study contributes by integrating non-traditional security perspectives, securitization theory, and global governance within an empirically grounded analysis of food security. The limitations of this research lie in its reliance on nationally aggregated data and the limited exploration of local actor dynamics. Future research is recommended to develop micro-level analyses and cross-national comparative studies to deepen understanding of food security securitization and its implications for human security.
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