Title : Security Communities and the Problem of Domestic Instability
Working Paper No : 55 (series 1)
Author(s) :Laurie Nathan
Date : November 2004
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Abstract:
The literature on security
communities neglects the question of internal instability. Using
examples drawn mainly from the Great Lakes region of Africa and
the region covered by the Southern African Development
Community, I argue that domestic stability, defined as the
absence of large-scale violence within a country, is a necessary
condition of a security community. I seek to demonstrate that
large-scale domestic violence prevents the attainment of these
communities by rendering people and states insecure, generating
uncertainty, tension and mistrust among states, and creating the
risk of cross-border violence. In contrast to other writers, I
conclude that the benchmark of a security community – dependable
expectations of peaceful change – should apply not only between
states but also within them.