War has vanished; it seems to have disappeared from the mental landscape of the Western world. War, that is, as it was understood in the 19th and 20th centuries, as conflict between nation-states and organized societies for the defence or conquest of territory and wealth, the establishment of empires or the imposition of ideologies by force. When the Second World War ended, the Western victors attempted to outlaw war by means of collective regulators and the restrictive provisions of the San Francisco Charter concerning individual and collective legitimate defence. And then these very peoples, armed to the teeth for the...

To quote Admiral Jean Dufourcq’s perceptive summary of today's world scenario: “Ce n’est plus la défense des Etats qui est la question centrale mais la sécurité des sociétés, et les instruments militaires assemblés à grands frais pour préserver les Etats peuvent sembler inopérants pour protéger des citoyens fragilisés, précarisés”. (“It is no longer national defence but the security of societies that is the central issue, and the military instruments assembled at great expense to safeguard a state may now seem inadequate for the protection of a fragile, unstable population”.)

It is worth our while, therefore, to examine potential areas of...

Armed conflicts, wars, terrorism and emergencies can have a traumatic effect on individuals and populations. Consequently, these people need professional support to help them express their feelings, define and understand their experiences, and develop coping strategies. But if these traumas are not confronted, if the wounds of war are not properly cared for, and if the cycle of violence and the vicious circle of victim-aggressor are not resolved, there is a danger that reconciliation may never occur. Achieving sustainable security involves far more than just treating the symptoms of conflict and violence: the causes must also to be tackled. Only...

For the past fifteen years, the majority of conflicts have been internal crises between communities that are unable to live together within the same state. More and more frequently NATO is being called on to restore security and stability. What is the extent of its mandate? At what point can it pull out, its mission accomplished? As the Secretary General has said, when NATO takes on a job, it will finish it. But at what stage can NATO say that its job is actually done?² Would a definition of the elements of “sustainable security” help define clearer parameters for the...