Applying the concept of "human security" in Latin America: an Argentine case study.

Bonner, Michelle D.

Abstract. The United Nations Development Programme describes the concept of human security as potentially revolutionary. Yet what does the concept mean in the context of Latin America? This article analyzes three of the central arguments made in the literature on human security supporting the use of this concept over others. I assess these arguments in terms of their consistency with the Argentine experience, and I argue that historical context and conceptual framing matter. That is, the persuasiveness of the concept of human security and the meaning it acquires in practice may vary depending on the historical context within which it is being used. The concept of human security may be a very useful tool in communicating the importance and urgency of broad security objectives within the international community. However, in Latin America, there are important reasons to be cautious about the adoption of the new concept.

Resume. Le PNUD decrit la securite humaine comme etant un concept possiblement revolutionnaire. Cependant, quelle est sa signification dans le contexte latino-americain? En se basant sur l'experience argentine, cet article analyse trois arguments centraux de la litterature sur la securite humaine qui preconisent l'utilisation de ce concept. Nous y demontrons l'importance du contexte historique et de l'encadrement conceptuel. Or, la capacite de persuader du concept et le sens qu'il acquiert en pratique peuvent varier selon le contexte historique dans lequel il est utilise. Le concept de la securite humaine peut servir d'outil pratique pour la communication de l'importance et de l'urgence des objectifs securitaires au sens large au sein de la communaute internationale. Toutefois, en Amerique latine, il faudrait faire preuve de prudence si l'on veut l'adopter.

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The idea of "human security" is appealing. As defined by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), human security moves away from the militaristic idea of security as the protection of nation-states from foreign aggressors. Instead, human security is "people-centred," and individuals' security is defined in terms such as food, employment, health, environment, crime, absence of disruption to daily life, and freedom from repression (UNDP 1994, 22-23). That is, human security is "freedom from fear and freedom from want" (UNDP 1994, 24). The UNDP Human Development Report contends that "the idea of human security, though simple, is likely to revolutionize society in the 21st century" (UNDP 1994, 22).

Perhaps slowly building toward this revolution, the concept of human security has gained some strength within the study and practice of international relations since the publication of the UNDP report. Human security has been integrated into the foreign policies of Canada, Norway, and Japan. An international Human Security Network has been established by Canada and Norway that includes Austria, Chile, Costa Rica, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Mali, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand, and South Africa (as an observer) (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada [DFAIT] 2006). Human security has been included in the 2001 report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty and discussed within meetings of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). In turn, many scholars of international relations and international development have advocated the benefits of using the concept of human security (Alkire 2003; Gasper 2005; Evans 2004; Ramcharan 2002).

The emerging concept of human security could eventually result in international organizations and countries providing foreign aid in a manner that prioritizes the provision of aid to governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who justify their need for funds in terms of their role in providing human security. Indeed, the objective of most of the literature on human security is to prioritize development goals based on their link to human security (Alkire 2003; Gasper 2005; Commission on Human Security 2003). In Canada, the Human Security Program of Foreign Affairs Canada already "funds initiatives that strengthen the ability of Canada and the global community to respond to threats to human security and support peaceful governance" that total, thus far, "over 300 projects in five different continents" (DFAIT 2006).

Given the growing conceptual and practical significance of human security, it is important to reflect on what human security might mean within the Latin American context. In particular, I am interested in asking what are the potential limitations of framing policies in terms of human security in Latin America? In response, I argue that by overlooking national-level concepts of security and securitizing certain social and economic problems, human security threatens to undermine important human rights achievements.

In this regard, I contend that historical context and conceptual framing matter. It is quite possible that the concept of human security may be very effective at mobilizing global economic resources for key human security goals, but less effective at reaching these goals at the national level. That is, the persuasiveness of the concept of human security and the meaning it acquires in practice may vary depending on the historical context within which it is being used. In Latin America, there are important reasons to be cautious about the adoption of the new concept.

To be sure, the concept of human security is not approached in the same way by all scholars and practitioners. Despite its appealing initial presentation in the 1994 UNDP Human Development Report, scholars and practitioners have grown somewhat divided on how the concept can be used in practice. Some scholars and practitioners continue to defend the broad definition of human security laid out by the UNDP (Nef 1999, 2003; Rojas Aravena 2002; Gasper 2005; Commission on Human Security 2003; MacFarlane and Weiss 1994), arguing that it is its broad definition and the manner in which these large number of issues are emphasized as connected that make the concept of human security most valuable. Others assume that focusing solely on one (or two or three) aspects of human security (e.g., human rights, small arms, health, migration) is consistent with the concept (Ramcharan 2002; Diamint 2002; Olson 2002). That is, they state in their work that they will address an issue such as human rights because it is an aspect of human security, but do not necessarily ever mention the concept of human security again. Nor do these authors explain how, in this case, human rights relate to the other issues laid out in the definition of human security proposed by the UNDP.

Another group of scholars finds the concept of human security problematic for both policy and academic research, owing to its broad and vague definition (Paris 2001; Suhrke 1999). They argue that the application of the concept of human security is only feasible if some issues are prioritized over others (Alkire 2003, 39; Shifter 2005; DFAIT 2006). Some authors refer to these priority issues within the human security agenda as part of a "vital core" needed for survival as opposed to simply applicable to all human beings (Alkire 2003, 36; Commission on Human Security 2003, 4, 10). However, it remains unclear in the literature which issues are part of the "vital core." Roland Paris argues that when attempts are made to identify a more limited set of policy areas, authors generally do not justify their choices (2001, 94-96). That said, human security issues related to physical harm are more commonly chosen than socioeconomic issues. For example, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade welcomes visitors to its human security program website with a banner stating "Freedom from Fear"; "freedom from want" is not included (DFAIT 2007a). The policy agenda of the program reflects this preference and identifies transnational organized crime, illicit drugs, trafficking in persons, and corruption as key issues of human security (DFAIT 2007b).

Hence, the debate that has developed within the literature on human security is not that different from the debate within the literature on human rights. Like human security, the concept of human rights can be defined broadly, as it is in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the corresponding covenants. According to the UN, human rights are indivisible and include, without priority, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Given the breadth of human rights laid out by the UN, many scholars and practitioners have prioritized some rights over others, referring to them as generational rights. Generational rights prioritize civil and political rights as first generation rights, social and economic (and sometimes cultural) rights as second generation rights, and issues of development as third generation rights (Monshipouri 1995; Hillman, Peeler, and Cardoza Da Silva 2002; Prillaman 2000).

However, the difference between the two concepts is not simply that human security views human rights as a subset of human security, but that human security reframes rights as security issues. In many analyses, including those whose focus is Latin America, the concept of human security is contrasted with state security (security of states from foreign aggression) as an alternative approach to achieving international security (stability in interstate relations) (Rojas Aravena 2002; MacFarlane and Weiss 1994; UNDP 1994). Compared to these concepts of security drawn from international relations theory, human security does indeed add an interesting and innovative dimension to our understanding of security. In particular, the concept challenges the assumption that states are necessarily responsive to the security needs of their citizens, in which case state security would be sufficient for citizens within these states to feel secure. Instead, human security reveals that individual and collective groups of people may have security needs that are not addressed by their states, and thus international support is needed to help the state fulfill its security obligations to its citizens.

However, comparing human security only to state security and within the context of international security ignores existing frames for security that have been used or continue to be used by states to address their domestic challenges. In Latin America two important concepts of security, national security and citizen security, are largely ignored in the literature on human security.

During the Latin American dictatorships of the 1960s to the 1980s the security frame used by these governments was known as the National Security Doctrine. Unlike state security that views external foreign aggressors as the principal threat, the National Security Doctrine argued that the greatest threat to the state was internal. The internal threat came from subversives or terrorists, vaguely defined to include almost anyone who was identified by the government as opposing the then-current military regime. The scope of the perceived threat under the National Security Doctrine is captured in a statement made by General Iberico Saint-Jean, governor of Buenos Aires during Argentina's last military regime. He explained, "First we will kill all the subversives; then we will kill their collaborators; then ... their sympathizers, then ... those who remain indifferent; and finally we will kill the timid" (quoted in Snow 1996, 83). The violent methods used to ensure "national security" in many Latin American countries during this period led to tens of thousands of civilians being imprisoned, disappeared, (1) or killed. The substantial literature on the National Security Doctrine, its use in the past and its legacy, is largely ignored in the literature on human security. (2) This omission denies us the opportunity to learn from states' past distortions of the concept of security, as well as how these experiences have been reframed by activists in terms of human rights.

More recently, particularly since the mid-1990s, both Latin American governments and scholars have begun to use the concept of citizen security to frame domestic challenges (Dammert 2004; Macaulay 2005; Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Ciudadana [SINASEC] 2005; Fruhling, Tulchin, and Golding 2003). Again, unlike state security, citizen security is not concerned with external foreign aggression against the state but rather domestic security challenges usually related to the police and common crime. Yet the definition of citizen security is not as uniform as the definition of national security. Some groups and scholars define citizen security in democratic terms, emphasizing citizen participation and the ability of state institutions to protect a broad definition of citizens' rights (civil, political, social, economic, cultural) (Centre for Legal and Social Studies [CELS] 2004b; Porton 2004; Fruhling, Tulchin, and Golding 2003; Dammert and Bailey 20063). For example, in Chile, during the administration of President Ricardo Lagos (2000-05), his undersecretary of the interior, Jorge Burgo, defined citizen security as crime prevention that is "the result of actions of various state agencies and sectors of civil society ... in the framework of a public policy that necessarily must include citizen participation" (Dammert 2006, 66). This definition often emphasizes democratic policing and improving community-police relations.

Others define citizen security more narrowly in terms of the ability of the police to effectively combat common crime (Neild 1999; Costa Santolalla 2004; Llorente and Rivas 2004). In this definition, "iron fist" or authoritarian policing methods are at times argued to be necessary or more effective than democratic practices or citizen participation for combatting the security threat posed by common crime. Both definitions of citizen security place an explicit focus on the role of the police in guaranteeing citizen security. Within the literature on human security the role of the police (and sometimes the military) is not always made explicit, and at times it is even denied that the police are needed to achieve the concept's goals. Yet in practice human security often requires enforcement that only the police or military can provide (Diamint 2004), crime being an obvious example. The current debate in Latin America between democratic and iron fist policing cannot be overlooked when assessing the merits of using a security frame.

As this outline of concepts reveals, human security is far from the only frame for understanding and distinguishing domestic challenges to security in Latin America. Hence it is quite possible for the frame of human security, when used in Latin America, to take on some of the assumptions and challenges of these competing frames. In contrast, the concept of human rights has a distinct history in Latin America that has been forged by prominent national human rights organizations and other human rights advocates. By framing their demands in terms of human rights, these actors have drawn national and international attention to the abuse of human rights inherent in the national security doctrine and the need for the primacy of human rights within the emerging concept of citizen security.

When assessing the benefits of using the conceptual frame of human security over human rights, Argentina is an interesting case study. Argentina has a very strong and sophisticated human rights movement that has sustained human rights as a central issue in that country since the end of the last dictatorship in 1983. Indeed the human rights movement has contributed to many important achievements in Argentina, including one of the world's first truth commissions, trials against human rights abusers from the last dictatorship, and the framing of socio-economic issues as important to human rights. At the same time Argentina is currently facing many security challenges including high levels of crime, police violence, and social unrest. For example, in 2002, during the aftermath of the Argentine economic crisis, crime reached a high of 3,697 incidents per 100,000 inhabitants in the city of Buenos Aires alone (Clarin 25 May 2005). The same year 221 civilians were killed by police (CELS 2005, 241). There were also 2,336 road blocks organized by protesters, a record number (Centro de Estudios Nueva Mayoria 2007). Human rights and security are both central issues in Argentina.

Drawing on the case study of Argentina, I apply and expand my analysis of the potential limitations of the concept of human security as a policy frame. I focus on three of the most persuasive arguments made in the literature on human security for the superiority of the concept to alternative concepts, and assess the strength of these arguments within the context of Argentina. The three arguments are (1) human security addresses security within countries not just between countries, (2) human security emphasizes the centrality of social and economic rights, and (3) the "security" aspect of human security is what makes the concept persuasive and creates an urgency and obligation for others to act. (4)

Human Security: Within, Not Just Between, Countries

Engaging the study and practice of international relations, the UNDP introduces the concept of human security as a fundamental shift in how we conceive of security. The concept expands the definition of security from nuclear security, security from an external aggressor, and security of national interests, to security felt by individual people in their daily lives (UNDP 1994, 22). That is, security is not just the state protecting itself, primarily through its military, from foreign threats, but involves the state and international actors working to provide security for individuals within states (Commission on Human Security 2003, 5; Rojas Aravena 2002; Nef 1999; Alkire 2003; Gasper 2005). While internal threats to human security include issues such as health, education, and the environment, it also addresses (and often prioritizes) transnational issues such as crime and terrorism (DFAIT 2006; UNDP 1994, 22; Commission on Human Security 2003, 6). In this section I will focus on these latter security issues.

Considering the historical and political context of Argentina, it is unclear if such a shift in the definition of security is indeed new or beneficial for security objectives. Argentina has fought very few wars against foreign aggressors but has a long history of internal wars against, particularly, terrorism--usually loosely defined as opposition by social or political actors to the government in power. I will consider here the history of the Argentine police. Advocates of the concept of human security maintain that democracy is central to its definition. The literature on human security rarely provides an explicit definition of democracy; it is often implied to be defined as more than elections, emphasizing the centrality of the establishment of the rule of law. Consequently, while the Argentine military has always worked very closely with the police, it is the police who must be primarily concerned with domestic human security issues such as terrorism and crime. In a democracy, the military is responsible for external threats to the state--that is, state security. In contrast, the police are responsible for ensuring the security of citizens within states, especially against crime and terrorism.

The police in Argentina have their foundation in political struggles against terrorism. After independence, elections were often won by the political party that was best able to mobilize the police (and military) in its favour; elections were often violent. However, it was during a perceived terrorist threat in the 1930s that the Argentine police force consolidated its current organization and practice around the political surveillance of citizens (Kalmanowiecki 2000). Fearing very real attacks from Radicals, (5) Anarchists, and Communists, successive governments immediately prior to and after 1930 began to increase the personnel and funding of the police (Kalmanowiecki 2000, 41-46; Hinton 2006, 31). (6) During the government of Agustin P. Justo (1932-38) a Special Branch within the police was established to focus exclusively on surveillance of a wide range of citizens (Kalmanowiecki 2000, 46-47).

In this manner the Argentine Federal Police (PFA) was established under the pretext of fighting an internal war where the enemy (often labelled terrorists) was defined as someone involved in "'subversive' or 'seditious' activities [which] included any challenge to order and morality" (Kalmanowiecki 2000, 49). In the years that followed, "terrorists" were identified as foreigners (immigrants), opponents of the government in power, and, later, supporters of Juan D. Peron (when Peron was not in power) (Andersen 2002). Finally, during Argentina's last military regime, General Videla (7) explained that a terrorist was "not just someone with a gun or a bomb but also someone who spreads ideas that are contrary to Western and Christian civilization" (quoted in Navarro 1989, 244). That is, the police in Argentina learned early on that their primary role in society is to combat terrorism, not common crime (Andersen 2002, 54).

While Argentina has now enjoyed electoral democracy for nearly 25 years, the idea of an internal war and the threat of terrorism persist for both the police and some politicians. For example, the PFA and most provincial police forces (including the Buenos Aires provincial police) have organic laws of conduct that require police officers to carry their guns 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These laws date back to the establishment of the police forces in the country. Police officers are to comply with what is referred to as the estado policial (literally, police state of being), which obliges a police officer or retired police officer to be ready to fulfill his or her professional duty at any moment should the situation arise (CELS 2001, 118; CELS 2004a, 218; Sozzo 2002, 235). The need for a police officer to be ready to sacrifice his or her life at any moment simulates the conditions of war, in this case a war against crime and for the maintenance of social order.

In 1999 and 2002 respectively, the PFA and the Buenos Aires provincial police modified their organic laws to relieve police officers of this obligation to carry a weapon while off-duty (CELS 2001, 118; CELS 2004a, 217-218). However, in practice the police ignore these reforms. For example, between 2000 and 2004, approximately 60% of civilian deaths involving the PFA in the city and greater Buenos Aires, were caused by off-duty police, as were 30-40% of civilian deaths involving the Buenos Aires provincial police (CELS 2004a, 218). Hence, while the laws may have changed, traditional police practice persists.

The idea of a persistent internal war is also reinforced by democratically elected politicians. For example, in 1997, President Carlos Menem (1989-99) responded to criticism of his government in the media by identifying Horacio Verbitsky (a prominent Argentine journalist) as "one of the great terrorists that Argentina has had" (CELS 1998, 132). More recently, there have been debates between governments regarding whether or not the police should use repression against social protest. For example, on 4 April 2007 a teachers' strike occurred in the province of Neuquen. During the confrontation between the police and the teachers, one of the teachers was killed by the police. In reaction, the governor of the province, Jorge Sobisch, implied a connection between the teachers and a potential, albeit vague, terrorist threat. The governor warned protest leaders: "[T]here are people who appeal to chaos, be careful that they do not infiltrate" (Clarin 6 April 2007). In contrast, President Nestor Kirchner took a firm stance against the police repression of the strike, linking support for such action to the persistence of the ideas of national security left over from the last authoritarian regime. The president stated that "a national security doctrine two has been developing" to justify the repression of social demands (Clarin 10 April 2007).

Thus, in the historical and political context of Argentina, human security does not introduce the idea of security being more than simply the defence of the nation from foreign aggressors and the defence of national interests globally. Security in Argentina has consistently been used by governments and the police in a manner that emphasizes domestic threats. Such a definition has often meant that the protection of human rights for some members of society are forfeited for the greater national security goals. If human security is to have human rights as its defining characteristic, as some authors argue (Ramcharan 2002), the benefits of muddying the waters with the concept of security remain unclear.

This leads us to the second key argument made in favour of human security. Human security does not limit security to issues relating to physical violence but includes issues that within the human rights discourse would be considered social and economic rights. In this way the concept of security is not simply a military prerogative but rather requires the integration and interconnection of many different types of organizations working on issues as diverse as health, education, and the environment (Gasper 2005, 20; Nef 2003; MacFarlane and Weiss 1994).

Human Security: Prioritizing Social and Economic Rights

Most authors argue that human security is, in essence, the protection of human rights (Ramcharan 2002, 10) or, as the Commission on Human Security words it, "respecting human rights is at the core of protecting human security" (2003,10). However, the use of the two concepts requires authors to clearly explain the differences between them. One key distinction made by Sabina Alkire is that human security can move beyond debates in the human rights literature regarding generational rights (that prioritize civil and political rights over social and economic rights), re-affirming the connection between civil, political, economic, and social rights within a new framework (Alkire 2003, 38). Indeed, most authors argue that these rights (or human security concerns) are indivisible (UNDP 1994, 22; Reed and Tehranian 1999, 53; Commission on Human Security 2003, 2).

At first glance, this appears to be one of the strongest arguments made for the use of the term "human security." Engaging with the literature on human rights, many authors have argued that social and economic rights are needed in order to ensure political and civil rights (Stavenhagen 1996; Blacklock and MacDonald 1998; Jelin and Hershberg 1996); perhaps the concept of human security will reinforce their arguments. However, case studies of Latin American countries, and in particular Argentina, reveal that the central challenge for social and economic rights is not simply elevating their importance but rather expanding their application to all people living within these countries. That is, in many Latin American countries, including Argentina, political and civil rights have been consistently violated while social and economic rights have been historically provided, albeit in a differential manner (Oxhorn 2003; Bonner 2007).

While important socio-economic achievements were accomplished earlier (8), it was Peron (1946-55) who established the Argentine welfare state and its differential application to people living within the country. Indeed, prior to Peron the working class was largely marginalized, politically and economically. Peron united workers under what he called the comunidad organizada (organized community), a neo-corporatist structure whereby previously excluded groups were politically integrated through the provision of rights, such as the establishment of maximum weekly hours of work and access to health care and pensions, in exchange for responsibilities. The most important responsibility was loyalty to Peron and the Peronist movement. Workers were organized into a single labour confederation, the General Confederation of Workers (CGT), that was loyal to Peron; members of non-Peronist unions (Socialist or Syndicalist) were not given access to state resources. Through the CGT and its insertion into the organized community, workers gained a wide range of social rights. For example, between 1946 and 1951, social security for workers more than tripled; between 1946 and 1955 wages increased 30% (McGuire 1997, 53).

For those non-unionized workers, housewives, elderly, or children who were loyal to Peron, the Eva Peron Foundation (heavily subsidized by the state) stepped in to provide "social aid" such as money for clinics, hospitals, dispensing pharmacies, hospital beds, disaster relief, and new schools (Carlson 1988, 193). While social welfare was provided to citizens differentially, depending on their political loyalties, it was at least provided. Indeed, for those people who support Peronism, it is Peron's establishment of the welfare state that is often most fondly remembered.

The extension of social welfare based on political loyalties continues today. For example, around the time of the 2001 economic crisis, piquetero (9) leaders, understanding Argentina's history of clientelism, competed to secure and control access to government funding programs for poor citizens in order to strengthen their own organizations (Epstein 2003, 23-24). While Epstein is hesitant to argue that clientelism is the key avenue to access social welfare, he does recognize that the control of social welfare held by piquetero organizations increased between the presidencies of Fernando De la Rua (1999-2001) and Eduardo Duhalde (2002-03) (Epstein 2003, 25-26). It is likely that this trend has continued.

For example, during the 2001 economic crisis hundreds of community organizations called Asambleas Populares (popular assemblies) emerged. The Asambleas were organized to meet people's basic needs independent of the state and political parties, in the spirit of the slogan of the time, Que se vayan todos ("Get rid of them all" [politicians]). By 2006 there were only five Asambleas left in the city of Buenos Aires. A leader of an Asamblea attributed the dramatic decrease in the number of these organizations to political party punteros (literally point people). He argued that punteros offered Asambleas and their individual members social welfare and assistance if they were to abandon the group for the puntero's political party (author interview, Buenos Aires 2006). Similarly, a leader of a non-political-party-affiliated piquetero group in the outskirts of the city of Buenos Aires explained that their lack of political party loyalty has cost them in terms of decreased social welfare for their members (author interview, Quilmes 2006). For example, paved roads stop before reaching some of their key offices. Clientelism remains a major challenge to the extension of social and economic development in Argentina, as it is in many developing countries.

Certainly the literature on human security would see the lack of universal access to social welfare as problematic. The "human" aspect of human security does emphasize the universality of such social security, as does the "human" aspect of human rights. However, the argument that human security can better prioritize social and economic rights misses the point. Social and economic development do not suffer owing to a lack of attention, but rather as a result of the clientelistic, and thus differential, manner in which they have historically been pursued. Because the concept of "human security" is largely neglected in the literature, it remains unclear if it would be better able to address the issue of clientelism than "human rights." While the concept of human security might challenge clientelism by pointing to its inability to provide universal "freedom from want" (UNDP 1994), Argentine human rights organizations argue against the unequal protection of social and economic rights as a violation of human rights. Unlike "freedom from want," the human rights argument is supported by a strong human rights movement. Indeed, Argentine human rights organizations in 2001 organized a march around a slogan that linked the violations of civil rights by the last dictatorship to the violation of social and economic rights; over 100,000 people attended the march (Bonner 2007, 151-152). With such support already in place, the usefulness of reframing the issue appears limited.

It is perhaps the last argument in favour of human security that it provides development issues with an urgency and obligation not found in other concepts, which may shed some light on the concept's potential persuasive power.

Human Security: Urgency, Obligation, and Persuasion

For the UNDP, the term human security provides a sense of urgency to the multivariable development issues currently addressed in its concept of human development (itself a critique of purely economic definitions of development). Rather than simply bettering or improving the human condition, the emphasis on security suggests that lives are at risk. As one author puts it, the urgency that the term security adds to what were traditionally seen as development concerns "helps to motivate responses and actions" (Gasper 2005, 21-22). (10) In contrast to the concept of human rights, another author posits that human security "can be used in social contexts where the language of human rights would meet entrenched opposition" (Alkire 2003, 38).

Certainly the manner in which an issue is framed is very important to its persuasive power. The literature on collective action frames reveals the challenge that social movements, within their domestic context, face in establishing a frame that is persuasive to both the state and society (Bonner 2007). To be successful, the term "human security" has the added challenge of needing to be persuasive not only for a country's state and society but also for the international community--a formidable challenge. Moreover, while a frame may be appealing to many different actors, it is equally important how different actors interpret the meaning of the frame. That is, while the UNDP might have a very ample definition of human security, when applied in practice, governments might narrow the concept to facilitate its application and in turn produce a very different meaning than that which was initially intended. While the concept of human security has not yet been widely adopted in Latin America, I will explore here the application of a similar term, citizen security, in Argentina (see the definitions of citizen security provided in the introduction).

The concept of "citizen security" at first glance appears both (1) consistent with democracy as it emphasizes the protection of the rights of citizens and the rule of law, and (2) consistent with "human security" in that it focuses on the security of individuals rather than nations. Like human security, citizen security is also very concerned with crime. Indeed, in Argentina the concept of citizen security has emerged largely from a concern about increased crime since the return of electoral democracy. (11) In turn, citizen security distinguishes itself from "national security" (a concept used during the last dictatorship) by defining the central actors as the police who in a democracy are responsible for security within a country, and generally not the military who are responsible for external threats to the state.

While the Centre for Legal and Social Studies, a prominent Argentine human rights organization, defines citizen security in terms of democratizing the police (CELS 2004b), the manner in which the Argentine state has used the term is often far less than democratic. In particular, under the governments of Fernando De la Rua (1999-2001) and Eduardo Duhalde (2002-03) the concept of citizen security was used to justify police violence and the targeting of some citizens (especially poor, organized youth) as potential criminals. Indeed the problem with the government's increased concern for citizen security is how "criminals" are being defined and the powers given to the police to combat crime.

To begin, the public discourse on crime found in the media and in statements by public officials is that crime is committed by "indecent" people, usually the poor, against "decent citizens," usually those who are employed, particularly the middle and upper classes (CELS 2004a, 150). For example, at least 30% of articles on crime over a quarter of a page long found in the most widely read national Argentine newspaper, Clarin, from 15 May to 15 June 2005 were articles about crimes committed against the middle or upper class. In these articles the profession of the victim(s) is clearly identified and emphasized.

Government practice is consistent with the prioritization found in the media of some citizens' security being more important than others. For example, on 14 November 2003, in an attempt to address "citizen security," then-President Eduardo Duhalde established the Programa de Proteccion Integral de Barrios (Comprehensive Neighbourhood Protection Program [PIPB]). The program ordered the occupation of three poor neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Buenos Aires by a substantial number of police: Villa Carlos Gardel by 400 Buenos Aires Provincial Police, Villa La Cara by 350 members of the Prefectura Nacional, and Barrio Ejercito de los Andes by 500 Gendarmes (CELS 2004a, 178).

According to the program, the officers in these communities were to be involved in "vehicle and population control," which included randomly stopping cars to check papers and establish if they were stolen (CELS 2004a, 179). The objective, according to the plan, was to reduce "delinquency and violence in the interior of neighbourhoods that, for their urban, social, and economic characteristics, concentrate high levels of insecurity and whose populations suffer from this menace without obtaining a satisfactory response from the state" (CELS 2004a, 154-155). It also, intentionally or not, created obstacles for citizens of poorer communities in the outskirts of Buenos Aires to enter the city centre.

To be sure, many citizens in poorer neighbourhoods do fear crime within their communities, but they also often fear the police. Indeed, residents of the neighbourhoods targeted by the PIPB complained that police officers abused them and participated in crime and violence (CELS 2004a, 179). Regardless, Raul Rivara (Minister of Security for the province of Buenos Aires from December 2003 to April 2004) concluded that as a result of the program, "In affected zones crime is almost eliminated" (CELS 2004a, 199). (12) Thus, the citizens being protected from "crime" are not always those living in these poor communities. Indeed, in this case, the program could be interpreted as protecting citizens in the city centre from the poorer "criminals" who wish to enter.

The analysis of the use of the concept of citizen security in Argentina reveals a number of issues. To begin, while potentially democratic, the term security as a frame for police and political action has a long history in Argentina; this history is not democratic. Redefining the meaning of security to include democracy (defined in terms of respect for the rule of law and human rights) requires a strong justification for why state actors should accept the new definition. While concepts like citizen security and human security may hold democracy to be central to their definition, the persuasiveness of democracy cannot be taken for granted in contexts where democracy has had a very short or intermittent existence (Argentina has had six military coups in the last 76 years). The connection between democracy and security must be justified.

In contrast, the concept of human rights in Argentina has been framed in a manner that is much more persuasive to the state and society than citizen security or potentially human security. Women in human rights organizations such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have framed and justified their demands in the need to protect the family. The historical and current centrality of the family for the Argentine state and society makes demands for human rights framed in this manner very persuasive (Bonner 2005, 2007). No one wants to be perceived as attacking the family. The persuasiveness of this frame is illustrated by a speech given by President Nestor Kirchner (2003-present) to the United Nations in 2003 in which he stated that human rights are central to the new agenda of his government because "We [the Argentine people] are children of the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo" (Pagina/12, 26 September 2003). Argentine human rights organizations have re-framed the protection of the family to require and justify the protection of human rights, making the latter concept persuasive.

Certainly the Argentine military and the police are resistant to the pursuit of human rights by the government. The familiar term "security" (human or citizen) could encourage their support for related goals. However, as we have seen with the concept of citizen security, the term security can be redefined to be less than democratic in military and police practice. In addition, emphasizing "security" over "rights" could also decrease opportunities for a government to make an explicit assertion of the centrality of human rights for security. In Argentina, the conceptual centrality of human rights (as opposed to citizen or human security) has facilitated such an assertion.

On 24 May 2006, openly criticizing the government's policy on human rights, a group of 2,000 retired and active military officers, dressed in uniform, gathered in Plaza San Martin in the city of Buenos Aires to commemorate military officers who lost their lives as "victims of terrorism" during the last dictatorship (Clarin 2006, 10). A few days later, President Kirchner confronted the military by stating in an address to the army on Military Day (29 May 2006) that the military should look to heroes of independence, such as San Martin, rather than dictators such as Videla, Galtieri, or Viola, as their role models in democracy. Kirchner's Minister of the Interior, Anibal Fernandez, further emphasized that the President's "policy of human rights is not a concession that the Armed Forces have given Argentine society" (Pagina/12 2006, 2). By emphasizing human rights, the Argentine president and his minister of the interior were able to assert its centrality to security; it is unclear if the reverse would have been possible.

The concept of human security may provide an important level of urgency and obligation that persuades international actors to take action to assist countries in need. It emphasizes the connection of issues that appear to be domestic challenges faced by states, such as immigration, drug trafficking, small arms, and poverty, with international security. In doing this, the concept of human security draws international attention to the consequences of the international community not assisting people with what may appear at first to be local struggles. For example, drug trafficking within a particular country usually involves the movement of drugs through other countries, expanding the security concerns from a domestic to an international issue. Such security concerns are immediate and obligate international (or regional) cooperation to avoid or contain the threat.

However, as the use of the concept of citizen security in Argentina suggests, the concept of security has a very powerful historical meaning in Latin America. (13) The challenges of redefining security in this context may prove more difficult than simply changing the frame used to achieve the desired goals.

Conclusion

The concept of human security may be a very useful tool in communicating the importance and urgency of broad security objectives within the international community. However, donor governments and international organizations should be cautious about promoting human security in Latin America without taking into consideration the political and historical implications of doing so.

While the redefining of security from a threat between countries to a threat within countries may be innovative in the international arena, it is not new in the Latin American context. Indeed, one of the major challenges for security in countries with a long history of authoritarianism, such as Argentina, is the need to redefine the role of security forces. The military must refrain from involvement in domestic security issues and the police need to redefine security within the constraints of democracy, not war. Given the history of the military and police in Argentina and in many other Latin American countries, the vocabulary of security and the inclusion of the threats of international crime and terrorism may complicate the achievement of these security goals.

Moreover, within the international community and theoretical debates, the emphasis provided by human security on the indivisibility of social and economic issues from other security concerns may very well reinforce existing arguments for this in the human rights literature. However, within the political and historical context of Argentina and other Latin American countries, the conceptual prioritization of social and economic rights is not as central an issue as the challenge of making these rights universally applicable.

Finally, the persuasive power of human security appears to be convincing as a justification for mobilizing resources at the international level (although support remains less than complete), yet it is unclear if its persuasive power will extend within domestic contexts. Certainly, in the case of Argentina a strong human rights movement has been very effective at persuading the Argentine state and society of the importance of human rights. While not all countries have a human rights movement that is as strong as Argentina's, the case study does reveal that the vocabulary of human rights has a certain stability and strength that the term human security may not have in the region.

Globalization has blurred the boundaries between international, national, and local. Yet the politics and history of national and local context still matter. A conceptual frame that is persuasive internationally may or may not be persuasive at a national or local level. Frames need to be familiar and makes sense in national contexts (Benford and Snow 2000). When frames are familiar, their historical and political meanings in local contexts need to be understood. Human security may be a useful frame for understanding security at the international level. However, the applicability of the concept within the domestic context of Latin American countries should be considered with caution.

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Notes

(1) During these military regimes many people "disappeared," meaning that they could not be located in the prisons nor have their bodies been found. It is presumed that most of the disappeared were killed by the military regimes.

(2) A notable exception is Rut Diamint (2004), who addresses the concept of human security in relation to the current challenges the military poses to democracy in Latin America.

(3) Dammert and Bailey refer to public security instead of citizen security. It is not uncommon for this literature and for practitioners to use the two concepts interchangeably.

(4) These arguments are drawn from the following sources: UNDP (1994); Commission on Human Security (2003); DFAIT (2006); Gasper (2005); Ramcharan (2002); Paris (2001); Alkire (2003); and Reed and Tehranian (1999). To be sure, not all authors or practitioners agree with all three arguments. However, assessing the literature as a whole, I find these three arguments to be potentially the most persuasive reasons for framing issues in terms of human security instead of human rights.

(5) Radicals are members of the Argentine political party Union Civica Radical (UCR). The UCR has traditionally represented the middle class and has generally pursued policies at the centre of the political spectrum. However, when it first formed it posed a significant threat to the Argentine oligarchy who controlled suffrage and political power at the time. The Radical Party, around the turn of the last century, used violence in an attempt to convince the oligarchy to expand suffrage to the male middle class.

(6) In 1908 a self-declared anarchist attempted to assassinate President Figueroa Alcorta (Hinton 2006, 31). In 1909 Chief of Police Ramon Falcon was assassinated by an anarchist (Kalmanowiecki 2000, 41). Supporters of the Radical party within the military led failed armed insurrections in February 1931, July 1931, January 1932, December 1932, and December 1933 (Kalmanowiecki 2000, 43).

(7) General Videla was one of the leaders of the Argentine military junta that governed the country from 1976 to 1983.

(8) For example, in 1910 Argentina was known internationally for having the best education system in Latin America (Carlson 1988, 83). However, Catholic Church opposition to secular education made this system less effective in the provinces (where the power of the church was stronger) than in Buenos Aires (Carlson 1988, 63), highlighting the early differential practice of the social right to education.

(9) Piqueteros (literally picketers) are unemployed workers in Argentina who since the mid-1990s have blocked roads to protest unemployment and the deterioration of social services such as health care and education.

(10) Roland Paris makes a similar argument (2001, 95).

(11) The term "citizen security" has been also increasingly used by governments in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil to respond to the same concerns (Dammert 2004; Macaulay 2005; SINASEC 2005; Fruhling, Tulchin, and Golding 2003).

(12) Ironically, one newspaper article reported that an unexpected impact of the program was that criminals simply moved from the areas more watched by police to ones that were not involved in the program (Clarin 25 July 2004).

(13) See also Lucia Dammert (2005) for an interesting comparison of the use of national security and citizen security in Chile.