What is meant by the traditional notion of external security? Describe its components.

The external notion of security is concerned with the protection of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity from the military threat of another country. The biggest threat to any country is the military threat from another country. Such actions endanger the lives of ordinary citizens as well.

The government has three choices in responding to the threat of War:

i. The government can choose to surrender.

ii. It can prevent the other side from attacking by promising to raise the cost of War to an unacceptable level.

c. To defend itself when the war breaks out so as to deny the attacking country it objective and to defeat the attacking forces altogether.

The security policy is concerned with the prevention of war which is called deterrence and limiting or ending the war which is called the defense.

The traditional external notion of security has two major components of the balance of power and Alliance building.

a. The balance of power is an important component of the traditional security policy. When countries look around them, they notice that some countries are bigger and stronger than them and might be a threat in the future. A neighbouring country may not be preparing for an attack without any obvious reason. But if the country is powerful there may be a possibility of aggression from inside. The governments are very sensitive to the balance of power between their country and other countries. They strive to achieve a favourable balance of power between the countries with whom they had differences in the past, with the countries with whom they currently have differences and with the neighbouring countries. An important aspect of maintaining a balance of power is developing a strong military base along with economic and technological power.

b. An Alliance is a coalition of states that coordinates their actions to defend any military attack. It is the fourth element of the traditional security policy. Most alliances are formulized in written treaties and are based on a fairly clear identification of what constitutes the threats. The countries form alliances to increase the effective power relative to another country or another Alliance. It is based on national interest and can change when the national interest changes.