Understanding Post-COVID-19 Social and Cultural Realities: Global Context

This book concentrates on the changing patterns of work and global social order as a result of COVID-19. It scrutinizes these changes in order to point out the possible reasons for these changes following COVID-19. It sheds light on the differences between the condition of underdeveloped and developed countries, focusing on how they struggle to find ways of coping. The pandemic has changed the global social order. It has an impact on every aspect of life around the globe, from individual relationships to institutional operations and international collaborations. Societies are endeavoring to protect themselves despite severe restrictions, while the pandemic continues to upset family relations and overturn governance. COVID-19 has made it clearer than ever before that where many strains on the social sector occur, the current global system, with its interconnectedness and vulnerabilities, is under threat. Due to the changing patterns of economic and societal elements caused by COVID-19, further research is urgently needed to analyze these changing trends. The book portrays what work and the global social order will look like in the future. It is essential reading for anyone interested in these changes and the pst-COVID-19 reality. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022, corrected publication 2022.

The forgotten war: Yemen and human security

This research examines the significance of having all seven aspects of human security. A series of questions were directed toward a sample of Yemeni participants living inside and outside of Yemen in order to get an insight into the daily struggles they face as a result of conflict. The interviews reveal the impact war has on human security and the absence of all seven components of human security put forward by the United Nations. This research argues that security in every shape and form is extremely important as all seven components are interlinked. As the world's attention is on Ukraine and the impact of the Russia–Ukraine War on civilians, this article pushes the reader to question the deafening silence of the world when it comes to the situation in Yemen. Without acknowledgment, raising awareness, and holding those in charge of the war accountable for their wrongdoings, change will never prevail.

Why Social Justice is the Most Effective Means of Disaster Impact Mitigation: Lessons from the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the impact of a systemic crisis depends very much on the prevailing level of inequality in the society concerned. This paper shows how the affordability of food was reduced dramatically for millions of people due to income loss in the wake of the pandemic, and the consequences this had. An analysis of the political economy of crisis then illustrates how economic inequality acts as a massive amplifier of disaster impacts on disadvantaged individuals and populations. Environmental degradation, across a broad spectrum from climate change to biodiversity loss, acts similarly as an impact amplifier in this and most other crises. Economically disadvantaged people are more immediately exposed to the impact of ecological degradation or may be forced to disregard the need for nature protection, which means the two factors are also mutually reinforcing. Inequality literally kills people, the more so in this century of worsening multidimensional crises. The paper argues that inequality on this scale is not just immoral but undermines human security, even for relatively privileged population groups, as well as threatening the stability of international relations. Addressing inequality, and especially inequitable policies in the food producing rural sector which acted as a major safety net for the poor during lockdowns, is thus the best pathway to mitigate future crises and their impact on food security.

Co-evolution of Pandemic, Human Security, and Technology

COVID-19 pandemic has placed a huge burden on the healthcare system, and mainly on healthcare workers who have faced the biggest challenges and concerns in their health profession toward the unprecedented outbreak of coronavirus worldwide. Science and technology for handling a pandemic has always been there in some form in different countries. This chapter presents key lessons from various community-based activities where technologies have been widely used and emphasizes the importance of interfacing science policy practice to sustainable development. Relative importance and emphasis of science and technology for human security gets mentioned as well. Further, case studies of a few nations illustrate the existence of a good partnership of science technology groups and different other stakeholders. However, the need to strengthen this partnership with a clearer direction and strategy for implementation as a mechanism to foster collaboration across global and regional mechanisms and institutions for the implementation and coherence of instruments and tools relevant to Human Security and Health for all. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Dealing with COVID-19 in South Korea: reflections on state theories

In this paper, we reflect on South Korea's relative success in dealing with COVID-19 from the perspective of state theories. Korea's success was due to the legacies of the developmental state, combined with the elements of the regulatory state and the network state, and facilitated by IT development. We also argue that we are witnessing a new state type that no longer features the existing state types' obsession with economic development. The emerging state type is concerned with human security and actively utilizes IT and collaborative governance to predict and prepare for future contingencies. We label this a ‘provident state'.

Those Above Poverty Line: Development and Vulnerability to the Pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic has posed severe challenges to human security with unprecedented vulnerabilities to food, health and income insecurities. In India, as elsewhere, interventions to redress these insecurities have focused on the most vulnerable, those who are extremely poor and fall below the poverty line. This chapter looks at a section of people who are not the extreme poor but nevertheless experience food, health and income insecurity. This group lies just above the poverty line, are excluded from usual welfare targeting and benefits provided by the state, and, represents the gains of development interventions over the past two to three decades. The pandemic has adversely impacted the livelihoods of this group and sent them into a downward spiral of decline into poverty with economic and psychological consequences. The trauma of decline impacts the psychological resilience of these individuals. From a policy perspective, arresting such decline into poverty requires a dynamic and emergent classification of population to target relief interventions at these groups as they are invisible in routine and static categories of welfare targeting. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Between Protection and Empowerment COVID-19: Haiti's Older People's Perception and Behavior

By proposing a dialogue between the findings of a Rapid Needs Assessment of older people and COVID-19 in Haiti and different components of the human security framework and UN policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on older persons, this chapter contributes to two ongoing and interconnected efforts to inform the global COVID-19 response and build-back-better initiatives: (1) efforts to make older people visible in COVID-19 response and recovery and (2) efforts to inform COVID-19 response through the lenses of the human security framework. While older people are all too often left behind and left out, the Rapid Needs Assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of older people in Haiti carried out by HelpAge International and Church World Service (CWS) in 2020 was a first step to make them visible. The study was carried out by CWS in collaboration with four local organizations in a context marked by a prolonged national political crisis, worsening food security situation, rise in insecurity and gang violence, and an above-average hurricane season. A total of 240 people in the capital city of Port-au-Prince and in the remote rural Northwest department was interviewed between July 28 and August 13, 2020. The assessment resulted in the report "COVID-19 Rapid Needs Assessment of Older People, September 2020.” This chapter summarizes the respondents' views on the themes of the COVID-19 awareness and behavior, food and income, health and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), as well as the initial feedback received from Haitian civil society representatives and participant rural NGOs. It concludes that a serious and sustained effort is required from member states and organizations to operationalize the full promise of the human security approach to older people, especially in fragile states and developing countries where human insecurities predate COVID-19, are systemic and interconnected. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Global Pandemic and Human Security: Using Health-EDRM Risk Assessment Framework to Enhance Technology Support for DRR

‘Biological hazard' is regarded as a major human security threat to people's well-being and development. In the era of globalisation and rapid technological development, COVID-19 pandemic once again revealed how an emerging communicable disease might impact not only health but also the socioeconomic ecology of people globally, while the related health risk can be mitigated by the employment of appropriate technology. The chapter examines how the latest World Health Organization Health-EDRM framework (2019) may inform the conceptualisation and assessment of health risks and proposes a Health-EDRM assessments framework for biological hazard. A case study of how health risks and vulnerability associated with home care may be reduced by employing technology in non-standard living context during pandemic and a case study of community resilience and community engagement are also included. The discussion also puts Health-EDRM framework into a human security perspective. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Developmental Agenda and the Global Pandemic

With the perspective of global pandemic, the chapter looks at the developmental issues through a systematic review of current literature on seven mainstream human security indicators: health, economy, food, education, environment, personal, community, and political security. After conceptualising the pandemic's contribution towards sustainability and human security, the chapter presents illustrative questions in the discussion section to understand the application of the human security concepts in practice. The pandemic has affected the key basic SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) related to health, income, food, education, environment, and others, and affected the community as a whole as well, through aggravated physical and psychological stress at the community level. Evidently, the SDGs and other global developmental agenda have faced a setback since 2019 due to the deep and systematic negative consequences of the current pandemic. How can nations, in these circumstances, remove systemic inequality and prioritise growth? In the chapter, we raise some questions for discussion on how to alleviate the impacts and put the world on track towards development. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Urban–Rural Linkages and Their Implication to Human Security in Pandemic Time

Evident through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation, the wider impacts of pandemics stretch far beyond the immediate and devastating loss of human lives. Beyond the health crisis, the pandemics often turn out to be a crisis for human security, as the unprecedented movement restrictions disrupt the lives of all people and their freedom to live with dignity. The core issues pertaining to limited healthcare capacities, job losses, economic slowdown, etc., also bring forth a range of inequity issues for urban and rural populations within a regional space, which are closely interlinked through spatial and sectoral linkages. While the geographically dispersed rural populations often depend on their urban counterparts for access to emergency services, they are often disproportionately impacted by a crisis situation due to the persisting connectivity gaps and socioeconomic barriers. Several such experiences have also been made during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which call for revisiting the contemporary developmental planning from human security perspective, so as to safeguard the survival, livelihood, and dignity of the diverse urban and rural populations. This chapter highlights the key lessons from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation and offers a forward-looking perspective on strengthening urban–rural linkages for consideration by the policymakers. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Introduction: Global Pandemic, Human Security, Technology and Development

Human security concept has evolved over the last 20 years and covers the broader aspects of development, environment, and disaster risk reduction perspectives. In general, human security concerns itself with safeguarding and expanding people's vital freedom, with the ambition "freedom from want,” "freedom from fear,” and "freedom to live with dignity.” COVID-19, the global pandemic, has affected the lives and livelihoods of people globally, including the human security issues from losing livelihoods to losing choices for education, access to health, and safe water. Different technologies (both existing and emerging) are being used globally to address these issues, albeit differentially, creating a significant digital/technology divide. The divide would have a much larger impact on human security in the near future. On the contrary, social innovation plays an important positive role to address the challenges of human security. With this context, the chapter provides some historical perspective on the evolution of the concept of human security, its relation to different development, environment, and disaster-related frameworks, and role of technology in achieving human security. The chapter provides an overview of the book with a short introduction of each chapter and provides a few ways forward at the end. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Climate Change and Human Security in the Context of the Global Pandemic: Emphasising Responses that Maximise Synergies

COVID-19 has changed the way we understand risk and vulnerability. The pandemic provides a more in-depth understanding of how systemic risks work and how they affect lives, livelihoods and economies at a broader scale. Consequently, a range of impacts was observed, including loss of human health, livelihoods, loss of general wellbeing, protracted poverty and loss of developmental gains. The pandemic has exacerbated social and economic inequalities as most affected are vulnerable groups of people, including the elderly or part-time workers with low-income jobs. The impacts of the pandemic on political decision-making resulted in security consequences spanning national and regional scales. The pandemic directly affected human security as people's ability to live peacefully, free of fear and live with dignity has been severely affected. These pandemic experiences call for revisiting the concepts of human security in developmental planning. With this background in view, the chapter evaluated the nexus between human security, climate change and pandemics. It also provides essential pointers that can help identify suitable policies and practices to promote human security while mitigating climate change and pandemics. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

The Importance of Data Sharing in Managing Public Health Crises

The COVID-19 crisis has emphasized the importance of the free flow of information and data-driven applications in the management of public health crises. This chapter examines the potential benefits, concerns, and solutions related to sustainable and secure access to public health data. We study some of the data-driven solutions in action worldwide and present them as replicable use cases. We also examine why a large volume of data from public and private sources never reaches the desks of decision-makers and suggest technical and policy solutions to eliminate these sources of ‘data friction'. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Emerging Technologies and Global Pandemic

Emerging technologies, often defined as Industry 4.0, have been increasingly altering the development paths of businesses and individuals. As the pandemic continues to remain a part of our reality, we continue to improvise, innovate, and overcome. Technologies we have adapted today, are going to be an integral part of the post-pandemic world as well, this expedited technological adaption beckons the question—when we accepted the thrust of technology to the center of our lives, what the coming years bring forth remains to be seen, now that we as a species we have accepted our technologically interwoven existence. Disruptive technologies include artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain, 3D printing, augmented reality, etc. While the speed and breadth of the fourth industrial revolution have been and will continue to be remarkable, the COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate innovation and catalyze technological changes already underway paving the way to Society 5.0. Society 5.0 aims to integrate human concerns back into the details of how we think about technologically advanced environments and promote user-friendly technologies for daily living;the initiative has also tried to address the challenges of productivity in an ageing society. This chapter presents examples of how emerging technologies have been employed during the COVID-19 crisis;discusses trends that may heighten the role of emerging technologies in a post-COVID-19 world;and reviews risks to and opportunities of faster adoption of emerging technologies and their implications to human security. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Sending Money Home in Conflict Settings: Revisiting Migrant Remittances

Despite the challenges, remittances frequently remain a primary source of economic support for those left behind, as well as for national development of post-conflict countries. [...]situations in the wake of recent conflicts are known for heightened remittance flows.3 As a large share of the remittance flows in conflict settings occurs through informal channels, the importance of remittances in these economies has often been underestimated. A focus on broader settings that can provide security, justice, and economic sustenance to individuals and communities affected by the crisis has been reflected in the human security approach6 to post-conflict7 development.8 Remittances can be central to fighting poverty—by diversifying household income sources, providing capital for productive investment and facilitating local markets, and funding education, health, and other social expenses.9 Remittances can contribute to post-conflict recovery in the long term. "20 Horst has shown that among the Somali diaspora in Norway, most political engagements do not occur through state institutions but take place on sub-national levels, including individual and group money transfers and certain humanitarian initiatives.21 Somali diaspora members mediate with clan leaders and elders who can contribute to reconciliation processes through customary mechanisms such as compensatory payments, but as noted above, such involvement can also sustain continued warfare.22 While the role of diaspora in post-conflict reconstruction efforts can be significant, diaspora can also remain an "under-utilized resource" whose strong emotional connection to their home country is offset by unstable institutional environments.23 Weak formal institutions and regulatory frameworks may offer little systematic support for entrepreneurship development, which is constrained by high transaction and compliance costs. Informal institutions and cultural attitudes remain important in the post-conflict assimilation of returning migrants who bring with them beliefs and understandings from their countries of settlement, resulting in hybrid norms and institutions.24 Many forcibly displaced and returning migrants may also lack properly transferable professional skills.25 The transfer of social and political remittances does not always signify "diffusion of democracy"—the effects of returning migrants to democratization depend on their experience of political mobilization as migrant workers, as well as on the status of democratic values in the political order of the host country, among other factors.26 Changing perspectives on conflict-affected remittances Remittances became central in the migration scholarship only in the 1990s, when the analytical focus shifted from migration as a result of [End Page 44] decision-making of rational individuals towards a more nuanced view of the role of households, social networks, and community in migration processes.

Digital Workplaces and Information Security Behavior of Business Employees: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia

In the post pandemic era, the telecommuting of business employees has widely become acceptable in organizations, which demands extensive dependence on digital technologies. In addition, this poses additional security threats for business employees as well as organizations. In order to better respond to security threats, business employees must have a higher level of awareness of the potential threats that are relevant to digital infrastructure used within the workplace. In this paper, we present a quantitative study conducted in line with the theory of planned behavior to gain insight into employee behavior toward information security within different business sectors in Saudi Arabia. The key factors chosen for our model were password management, infrastructure security management, email management, organizational security policy, organizational support and training, and the perception of the level of security. We have applied structured equation modelling to identify most of the relevant factors based on the respondents' feedback. The results based on the business employee behavior showed that they respondents did not perceive all of the constructs of our model as relevant security factors, which can potentially result in security lapses. This indicates that more security-related measures should be put in place and that business employees should be updated periodically about potential security threats. To this effect, we divided the studied security measures into those which should be implemented at organizational and individual levels. The results will potentially help business managers to design appropriate security trainings, guidelines, and policies for their employees to ensure more information security awareness and protect their technological infrastructure, especially within home office environments.

Epidemiological intelligence fusion centers: health security and COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic

Research on health security has focused on how many different political, economic, social, and health-related factors affect disease containment within states. However, largely missing from this scholarship is an examination of the role public health intelligence plays in limiting the spread of disease. Thus, this study focuses on the effect epidemiological intelligence fusion centers have on disease prevalence. We conduct a case study analysis of the Dominican Republic's use of epidemiological intelligence fusion centers during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide policy recommendations for other states to follow. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data for Strengthening the Role of Intelligence in Human Security

The state, through the government, should ensure national security and stability through the policies taken. For this reason, fast and accurate information and data are needed to form the basis for policymaking. Intelligence actors have an essential role in gathering information to identify and prevent threats within and outside the country. Technological advances affect changes in threats and increase the classification of these threats. Covid-19 is a real example of the threat in this era because almost all countries feel its impact. In addition to affecting health, the Covid-19 pandemic also impacts the global economic sector. The economic impact is felt by small and medium industries, goods and services products, and also the tourism sector. The method that is used in this study is a literature review from various national and international journals. AI and Big Data can be used to track viruses in real time, collect adequate public health data, and integrate vaccine use. Also, AI and Big Data can provide local decision and policy-makers with informed, evidence-based predictions. the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic and other infectious diseases that disrupt public health and have a broad impact must be anticipated and addressed in order to achieve the safety and existence of the nation and state. The author wants to emphasize the importance of the role of intelligence in anticipating threats from the visible to the invisible. © 2022 IEEE.

THE GUARDA NACIONAL REPUBLICANA 4S PATH: A STRATEGIC APPROACH FOCUSING ON HUMAN LIFE

The pandemic caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus not only accentuated the responsibility of the Security Forces to protect human life but also challenged the ability to manage change that, in a highly demanding environment, lacks integrated approaches that would enhance the collective and cooperative effort to share a common commitment. The Portuguese Guarda Nacional Republicana has guided its action according to the 4S strategic path, based on security, safety, social and support pillars, and on integrated strategic planning that, achieved by joint, preventive, educational awareness-raising and intervention actions, and by current proximity patrolling, have enabled obtaining social support and protecting military personnel lives and citizens lives. These tools simultaneously improve operational synergies enhanced by close cooperation and collaboration relations with several partners, doing justice to the premise that together we are capable and thus preventing anyone from falling behind.

Human Security in China. A Post-Pandemic State: Chi Zhang (ed.), Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, xvii + 200pp., £71.50/€85.89 ebook

This volume, edited by Chi Zhang, is a timely contribution to the understanding of China's distinctive approach to human security in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jia Liu's article discusses public health emergency management in China during COVID-19 through the lens of health security. By examining the legal and institutional structure of China's public health emergency management system, Liu offers a detailed explanation of the conditions under which "a-securitisation" and "hyper-securitisation" occurred. [Extracted from the article]