Name: Fakhara Gillani

Registration no: NDU-BS-S/17-293

Introduction
Security in its essence is an ambiguous concept. There are hardly subtle
parameters that provide an adequately sharp explanation of security. However,
security is very instrumental in formulation of foreign policy as well as
determining the threat perception. When it comes to the term “national
security”, another debate arises because it may not mean the same thing to
everyone. This debate took place under the impact of great depression. At that
time the pressing question was the foreign policy of USA which was economic in
scope was not really aimed at promoting the welfare of interests of a nation, but
it focused more on satisfying the material interests.
National Security
The wide definition of national security is the security and defense of a nation
state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty
of government.
Types of national security:
National security comprises of two main categories
Traditional and Non-traditional.
In the realm of traditional security threats are the pure military threats and the
referent object is the state itself. On the contrary the traditional security, threats
are to other facets such as environment, economy, etc. In this paradigm, state is
not a referent object.
Fundamental questions:
 Security to whom ? when it comes to providing the security what should be
given more importance. The territory of the state or the people of the
states.
 Identification of threats ? another very pressing question is from what
should one secure ? the threats are hard in its due nature or soft in due
nature.
 Who will define security ? security may not mean same thing to everyone
out there. i.e the security concerns of US are different as compared to
Pakistan. So, who will set out the contours of national security.
 Amount of security: Another question that remains unaddressed is how to
quantify the amount of security . how much security is required.

These fundamental questions reflects the loopholes and how difficult it is to

define the term “national security” in a framework. Therefore, no acute
definition of national security has been drafted out so far and it remains an
underdeveloped concept.