ABSTRACT
The argument advanced in this chapter is that human security, the essential social expression of human attachment, is at once highly vulnerable to the ravages of war and tightly linked to all efforts to prevent and mitigate its effects. The notion of human security arises from an analysis of the world that establishes people, rather than nation-states, as the central repositories of value, meaning, and authority. Home harbours records and memories of interactions as well as sensations and feelings regarding attachment to a particular place. The immediate impact of war upon society is usually assessed in terms of numbers of military dead, numbers of civilians forced into flight, extent of infrastructure destroyed, and short-term economic costs. Long and intense wars, particularly those associated with aerial bombardment or repeated ground assaults over the same terrain, cause great urban and environmental destruction. The breakdown of distinction between warrior and civilian, home front and battle front, characterizes current non-state or intra-state conflicts.
