Introduction

Globalization involves a myriad of transnational processes which although are global in their scope but are distinct from one another. Through these processes, globalization generates systemic forces that affect all states. While it is beyond the scope of this study to address each process and issue in detail, we shall delve into some of those that are most pertinent to the complexity of international security in the contemporary world. This chapter examines military, economic, health, information technology, and cultural components of human security, as they interact with terrorism, all through the prism of globalization. While many students of international security consider globalization itself as one of the elements of security, it occupies a unique position among these other security components not only because of its ability to overshadow them but because of its impact on their dynamics and its capacity even to enslave (each one of) them as mere expressions of its own processes.

In today’s world, making a distinction between national and international security is like drawing a line in the water. Both conflict and peace have become borderless just as stability and instability have.