five sectors, each governed by "distinctive characteristics and dynamics", and conceptualized around particular referent objects and actors (i.e. military, environmental, economic, societal and political). Societal security is about the survival of a community as a cohesive unit; its referent object is "large scale collective identities that can function independent of the state."

Societal insecurities arise when "a society fears it would not be able to live as itself", and stem from:
* migration: