The focus and emphasis of the security discourse have changed significantly over the last two decades. The realist/neo-realist notion of security is being questioned increasingly, particularly since the end of the Cold War. The traditional perception of security was essentially state-centric: security meant protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the State. Challenges to sovereignty of the State as well as threats to its territorial integrity are perceived as threats to security. Hence, there was emphasis on military power as the foundation of security, of maintaining the status quo and regime stability.

Theorisation in International Relations, outside the dominant realist tradition, questions the very assumptions of the conventional perception of security ranging from state-centrism to regime stability. Non-realist writing on security seeks to widen the scope and agenda of security. There is a shift in the focus from State to people. The changed focus brings in the issues of legitimacy, rights, democracy and development within the ambit of the concept of security. This widened agenda is referred to as `human' security, a term coined by the Human Development Report of the UN, 1994. The concept of human security is influenced by the ideas of two major economists from South Asia, viz., Mahbub ul-Haq and Amartya Sen. While many scholars like Barry Buzan prefer widening the concept of security to make it more `comprehensive', a number of scholars from South Asia have addressed this issue in the particular context of the subcontinent. Some recent works of noted South Asian scholars, such as Rajesh Basrur, Ranbir Samaddar and Helmut Reifeld, Rafiq Dossani and Henry Rowen have contributed to the development of the concept as well as its application to the circumstances in South Asia. The book under review falls in this category. It is based on the papers and proceedings of a seminar conducted by the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Studies. The book adopts a "people-centric approach both in theory and practice". Articles in the book "develop a new security paradigm by emphasising the overall development and empowerment of people". The articles cover a number of issues ranging from theorising the new security agenda and human security to specific security problems in Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, such as militarisation, insurgency, cross-border human trafficking, etc.