BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

MARITIME SECURITY OF BANGLADESH: FACING THE CHALLENGES OF NON-TRADITIONAL THREATS

Author: Abul Kalam Azad

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2009v30n2a1

ABSTRACT

The security community, in most of the littoral countries, seems to remain indifferent to the maritime aspects of national security of their respective countries. This is because of the priority given to land-based security concept along Westphalian line. However, it is only in recent times that due attention has been given to various crimes and violent acts taking place in the oceanic domain, all with the potentials for destabilising peace and order not only in the oceans but as well in the littorals bordering the oceans, seas, gulfs, bays, straits etc. As a result, the traditional concept of maritime security understood in terms of having powerful navy for showing off power through gunboat diplomacy, coercion, unwarranted intervention in the littorals’ internal affairs etc. is now giving itself up to a more comprehensive outlook towards maritime security. In other words, the comprehensive maritime security now includes in its agenda a plethora of non-traditional security threats to the world’s oceans and seas. In this light, the paper attempts to identify the various non-conventional threats, discern their types and nature and the challenges they pose to the maritime security of Bangladesh. Since one of the cardinal concerns of non-traditional security is human being, the paper looks at the issue from a human security perspective as well.