Sustainablesecurty.org is a new website launched by Oxford Research Group on September 10th 2009. It is a repository for the best thinking about a new approach to global security, one that concentrates on addressing the root causes of conflict rather than managing their symptoms.
We have launched this website close to the anniversary of 9/11 to highlight the increasing awareness that the approaches taken by the USA and its allies since 2001 have not yielded the hoped for security improvements. The site will provide a ‘one stop shop’ for information from all over the world on creative and workable alternatives.
In a newly published article written to launch the site, John Sloboda, ORG’s Executive Director wrote: “If sustainable security is to become an end, with the security of humanity in its totality as the goal, then community groups, faith groups NGOs, and many other elements of civil society (including journalists) must co-ordinate their efforts to promote such policies.”
The web site is organised to highlight four interconnected drivers of global insecurity: climate change, competition over natural resources, poverty and marginalisation, and global militarisation. Articles and resources are allocated to one or more of these headings, but the overall emphasis is on the interconnected nature of these threats, and the need for comprehensive, multilateral approaches to them. The site is one part of a larger project on ‘Moving towards sustainable security’ begun by ORG in 2006 which has involved publications, roundtables in different parts of the world, and a series of publications.
Founding site editor Thomas Phipps says, "We will be posting regular new content, including specially commissioned articles, but would welcome input and suggestions from individuals and organisations, so that no significant piece of practically implementable thinking is missed."