General considerations for better understanding the meaning of security

Abstract

As Kofi Annan said, “in the wake of these conflicts, a new understanding of the concept of security is evolving. Once synonymous with the defence of territory from external attack, the requirements of security today have come to embrace the protection of communities and individuals from internal violence. The need for a more human-centred approach to security is reinforced by the continuing dangers that weapons of mass destruction, most notably nuclear weapons, pose to humanity: their very name reveals their scope and their intended objective, if they were ever used.”* This paper tries to explain some of the meaning of the word „security” in order to allow a new vision of the nowadays security.