National Security in the Third World
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About the Book and Author
For nations of the Third World, national security poses serious dilemmas. Unlike Western nations, less developed countries must balance the complex and often contradictory requirements of socioeconomic and political development with problems of internal stability and the requirements of national defense. For these countries, a concept of national security that focuses primarily on the international threat system and its overt manifestations of wars and violence, ignoring domestic well-being, is inadequate on theoretical and pragmatic grounds.
This book addresses the security problems of Third World states, arguing for new ways to define and measure national security so that the concept may be appropriately applied to the needs of developing countries. In addition, the author argues that the "tranquility" of a state, a concept traditionally linked with national security, cannot necessarily be associated with quality of life as measured by conventional means. Dr. AI-Mashat constructs a tranquility index for ninety-five developing nations and tests its relationship with the physical quality-of-life index to demonstrate this point. Attempts to improve quality of life, he suggests, may in many countries lead to a reduction in security unless simultaneous attempts are made to democratize the regime.
Abdul-Monem M. Al-Mashat is assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University.
National Security in the Third World
Abdul-Monem M. Al-Mashat
First published 1985 by Westview Press, Inc.
Published 2018 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Al-Mashat, Abdul-Monem M. (Abdul-Monem Mohamed)
National security in the Third World.
(A Westview replica edition)
Bibliography: p.
1. Developing countries--National security. I. Title.
UA10.5.A4 1985 355'.03301724 83-2247
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-01722-4 (hbk)
For individuals, groups, and nations, there are several sources of insecurity and fear. There are wars and threats of wars; poverty and its economic and physiological consequences; and repression, authoritarian controls, and the denial of identity and participation.
Professor Al-Mashat's book is about the management and eradication of these human insecurities. In his new book on national security, more than territorial defense it is about the physical, social, and psychological quality of life of a society and its members, both in the domestic setting and within the larger regional and global systems.
Professor Al-Mashat implies that legitimacy of regimes and national security are two sides of the same coin. Legitimacy is determined by how effectively the policies of elites and the structures of the political system satisfy the economic, political, and identity needs of the members of the society. The greater the success of ruling elites in satisfying the basic human needs of their people, the greater is the legitimacy and therefore the stability of the regime.
Furthermore, regional and international cooperation and national security are interdependent. The greater the level of cooperative relations, the greater the opportunity for stability and security. The greater the regional stability, the greater are the opportunities for domestic consensus and security.
Professor Al-Mashat's argument is that domestic security affects regional and international security and vice versa. However, it is the domestic environment that is important and critical in national security considerations. Carrying this argument forward to the Third World and perhaps to all other states, Professor Al-Mashat finds the following:
- the improvement of the physical quality of life alone, not in the absence of withstanding the psychological quality of life, is negatively correlated to the level of security;
- national security is positively correlated with the increase in the distributive capability and democratization of a given system? and
- the tranquility and well-being of a society are preconditions for security.
This work should be seen as an important addition to the literature on national security, particularly since it demonstrates that in a newly emerging nation there is more to the meaning of security than what has been traditionally included. This book also demonstrates effectively that national security questions can be studied and analyzed empirically. Finally, it makes a timely contribution for the thinking of those in Third World countries who are now becoming interested in the theoretical and empirical aspects of the term "national security."
