Strengthening Partnerships to Counter Non-Traditional Security Threats in the Indo-Pacific

A shift in the notion of ‘security’ since the end of the Cold War resulted in the accommodation of non-military—thereby, ‘non-traditional’—threats to security. Non-Traditional Security (NTS) comprises a gamut of human security concerns such as climate change, shortage of food and resources such as energy, infectious diseases, natural disasters, transnational crime, human and drug trafficking, and mass migration. This is what analysts refer to as the human security-development nexus. These NTS areas have typically fallen outside the purview of discussions on more “immediate” threats to national security such as, for instance, territorial encroachment. Addressing these challenges also often calls for the involvement of transnational actors.