The securitisation of aid and the associated risks to human security and development

Abstract

Since 9/11 there has been an increasing movement toward the securitisation of development aid. That is, the tendency for donor governments to view security and development as interconnected within a 'security-development nexus'. It reflects the growing concern toward so-called 'failed' or 'fragile' states where underdevelopment has come to be seen as dangerous, especially in light of new wars, refugee crises, migration and terrorism. This paper is concerned with how the securitisation of aid poses risks for development work, specifically within the human development and human security agenda that emerged in the 1990s as an alternative framework to the traditional models of economic development. This paper finds that both in terms of where aid is located and the way in which it is delivered on the ground, the securitisation of aid poses significant risk to the human security and human agenda insofar as it fails to address the underlying causes of insecurity and underdevelopment. It concludes that the associated risks to the human security agenda can be seen by questioning whose security interests are being served through the securitisation of aid. International aid is one of the most powerful weapons in the war against poverty. Today, that weapon is underused and badly targeted … and much of what is provided is weakly linked to human development. 1 1 United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2005: International Cooperation at a Crossroads: Aid, Trade and Security in an Unequal World (Pittsburgh: Hoechstetter Printing Co., 2005) 75.