ABSTRACT
This chapter maps changes in security studies as they relate to global justice. It critically reflects on past foreign policy experiences of interventions and state building in the 1990s and contextualizes them against the backdrop of today’s challenges. Past intervention, such as in Afghanistan, were not only driven by the goal of defeating global terrorist threats and removing the Taliban from power; it was also meant to promote state building. European countries invested significant efforts promoting state capacity and strengthening civil society. The fall of the Western-backed Afghan government in August 2021 and the triumph of the Taliban have resulted in new questions. Will states retreat from promoting good governance abroad and return to defending national interest, as was prevalent during much of early 20th-century international affairs? Or will the global justice dilemmas surrounding the environment, public health, inequality and conflict lead to new ways of conceptualizing security? What does security mean in today’s world? And what alternative approaches to security can help us rethink it?
