Abstract

This chapter weaves together the idea of “human security” and the reality of human insecurity in the South Asian context. It opens with a snapshot of everyday life across the region, looking at human development, gender, and displacement statistics. It then explicates the idea of human security, underscoring the realities that make it relevant in the regional context. Four structural realities are identified as constraints on human security—understood in terms of survival, rights, and agency: Structural inequalities, governance failure, climate change, and citizenship politics.