Global Security

Global security has undergone major transformations since the mid-20th century. After 1945, the establishment of the United Nations aimed to prevent large-scale conflict following World War II. The Cold War (1947–1991) defined global security through nuclear deterrence, bloc confrontation, and crises such as the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world close to nuclear war.

In 1970, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entered into force, creating a framework to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 shifted security concerns toward regional conflicts, peacekeeping operations, and arms-control efforts like the 1994 Budapest Memorandum and 2010 New START Treaty.

The September 11 attacks in 2001 reoriented global security toward counterterrorism and interventions in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003). Cybersecurity emerged as a critical domain after the 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia, followed by rising threats from ransomware, espionage, and AI-driven warfare.

In the 2020s, global security is shaped by great-power rivalry, particularly between the United States, China, and Russia, escalating tensions in the Indo-Pacific, Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Conflicts such as the 2022 Ukraine crisis and rising nuclear modernisation highlight the fragility of the current security architecture.