Non-Traditional Security Threats in the Bay of Bengal: We are all in the same Boat, Brother!

Lailufar Yasmin

Non-Traditional Security Threats in the Bay of Bengal: We are all in the same Boat, Brother!

Lailufar Yasmin
University of Dhaka
lyasmin@du.ac.bd

Keywords: Non-Traditional, Security, Bay, of, Bengal, International, Politics,

Abstract

In the discourse of international politics, the primary thrust is placed upon state actors’ survival. In this understanding, generally threats are seen as exogenous in origin. Time has changed but seldom the statist question of survival has not, which has placed major emphasis on identifying and responding mostly to external security threats or generally known as traditional security threats. In this article, I point to how gradually this typical outlook to define security has undergone a shift and non-traditional threats (NTS) gradually emerged as significant issues that states must not ignore anymore. The Bay of Bengal region, which is gradually coming under the focus of international politics in the 21st Century, is also experiencing a number of non-traditional threats that need to be recognized and resolved through transnational cooperation. This article carefully identifies the principal threats that affects the Bay of Bengal region and the measures to be undertaken to create cooperative measures to address the issues.

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