Question

Explain health epidemics and terrorism as the two new sources of threat under the non-traditional sources of threat to security.

Hint:

Non-traditional threats do not come from armies but from things like diseases and violence against civilians. Epidemics such as HIV-AIDS, bird flu and SARS spread across borders, and terrorism targets civilians to create fear.

Answer 1

Step 1: Meaning of non-traditional threats:
Traditional security deals with military threats from other states. Non-traditional security deals with dangers to human life that do not come from armies.
Terrorism and health epidemics are two such dangers.

Step 2: Health epidemics - nature of the threat:
Diseases like HIV-AIDS, bird flu, SARS and Ebola spread fast from one country to another.
Trade, travel, migration and tourism carry them across borders.

Step 3: Health epidemics - effects:
Epidemics kill many people and make the economy weak because workers fall sick.
Poor countries suffer most because they lack hospitals and medicines. Cooperation among states is needed to control them.

Step 4: Terrorism - nature of the threat:
Terrorism means political violence aimed at civilians to spread fear. Hijacking planes and bombing crowded places are examples.
International terrorism involves people or territory of more than one country. The attack on the World Trade Centre in the USA on 11 September 2001 is a well-known case.

Step 5: Terrorism - effects:
It kills innocent people, destroys property and creates fear in society.
It cannot be solved by one country alone, so states have to share information and work together.

Final Answer:
Health epidemics and terrorism are non-traditional threats because they harm people across borders and cannot be stopped by military strength alone.