Pakistan: The Domestic Dimensions of Security

Abstract

One of the crucial problems involved in studying the domestic dimensions of security is to determine what constitutes a threat to national security. In the international arena there is in practice no real distinction between a threat to a state or to the government, for at that level the two are almost interchangeable terms. But when one looks at the domestic sources of insecurity one must make a distinction between the state and the government. It is perfectly legitimate for the opposing political groups to work for the removal of a government and, provided there is an agreed procedure for the transfer of power, it in no way threatens the security of the state. But very often in weak and immature states, an attempt to oust the government is portrayed by the party in power so as to imply a threat to the state.¹ Thus when examining the domestic dimensions of security a major problem is to distinguish between the legitimate opposition to the government and those factors which threaten the continued existence of the state.