Abstract

This chapter examines the nature of regime security in the weak states in the developing world in contrast to public or state security in the developed world. The chapter shows that the insecurities that confront regimes in the developing world mostly emanate from internal rather than external threats and are linked to the inability or unwillingness of these regimes to provide security inclusively as a public good to local communities. In order to understand the regime insecurity loop in the developing world, the chapter commences by introducing the difference between public and regime security. It continues by defining the major threats to regime security before exemplifying how regimes in the developing world are trying to manage these threats through accommodation and coercion. The regime insecurity loop will be illustrated on the basis of the Assad regime in Syria. The chapter concludes by outlining the prospects of regime security in the developing world amid an increased transnationalization of security affairs.