The Dark Side of National Security: The Case of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue IV, April 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Dark Side of National Security: The Case of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Dr. Ambrues M. Nebo Sr. (Doctor of Sociology)
Department of Political Science, University of Liberia
Department of Sociology, African Methodist Episcopal University, Liberia

Abstract: From a qualitative approach with the main emphasis on content analysis, this paper meticulously explores the dark side of national security. Particularly, it takes the current Russian invasion of Ukraine as a special case to unpack the problems associated with national security. As a research imperative, this study was guided by theoretical frameworks from two interrelated disciplines (International Relations and Sociology) that offer their national security insights. Under the lens of international relations, the paper conceptualized national security from two dominant perspectives: realism and liberalism. Under the lens of sociology, this article examines national security from the functionalist theory or perspective with an emphasis on the manifest and latent functions of national security. This paper argued that the current humanitarian crisis, civilian casualties, infrastructure damages, and spillover effects of the invasion are the dark side of national security that exemplify the latent dysfunction under the latent function. Put it differently, all the catastrophes the world has witnessed including the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine that bordered on national security interests are the unintended or undesirable consequences of national security. Substantially, this paper concludes on two key issues. Firstly, while it is true that nation-states cannot possibly exist without national security, the same is also true that its approach must not jeopardize the very security of nation-states. As such it becomes an irony of the situation. Secondly, in order for nation-states to protect their national security interest, they must engage in a constructive dialogue aiming at cooperation considered the heartbeat of liberalism.

Keywords: Dark side of national security, Latent dysfunctional, National Security, National Security Interest, Threats,

I.INTRODUCTION

At the expense or detriment of innocent civilians mostly women and children, the relentless urge for protecting the national security interests that have become so ideological will continue to shake the moral conscience of the world. History is copiously replete with both antique and contemporary notorious facts viewed as the supporting evidence. Examples bordering on national security issues include but are not limited to the followings: The memories of War World I and II pertaining to the quantum of the destruction of lives and properties, Operation Barbarossa code name for the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and some of its Axis allies in 1941 (Taylor, 2011), the Bay of Pigs invasion covertly financed and directed by the John F. Kennedy administration that set the stage for the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 (BBC News, 2021), the Cuban Missile Crisis defined as a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union due to American deployments of

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