From Sustainable Development to Sustainable Security: Reframing the Security–Sustainability Nexus

Abstract

Sustainable development has traditionally been understood as a framework balancing environmental, economic and social objectives. However, accelerating climate change, geopolitical instability, technological disruption and growing systemic risks challenge the conditions under which these objectives can be achieved. Despite expanding research on sustainability, resilience and security, their interrelationships remain fragmented across disciplinary perspectives. This article examines how the relationship between sustainable development and security has evolved and analyzes how existing discussions on sustainable security can be brought together into a more coherent analytical framework. The study applies qualitative document analysis, comparative analysis, thematic analysis and analytical synthesis of the academic literature, international policy documents and institutional reports. The analysis indicates that progress towards sustainable development depends to a substantial extent on the resilience of environmental, economic, societal and institutional systems. Rather than representing a separate policy field, sustainable security provides an integrative perspective that explains how these dimensions interact under conditions of systemic uncertainty. Building on existing research in sustainability, security, resilience and governance, the article develops an Integrated Sustainable Security Framework that brings these dimensions into a single analytical structure suitable for examining their mutual relationships. Its main contribution lies in integrating existing perspectives into an analytically consistent framework that may support future empirical and interdisciplinary research on the sustainability–security nexus.