Between Development and Security: The European Union, Governance and Fragile States

textabstractOver the past five to seven years, most international aid donors have started to pay attention to so-called ‘fragile states’. Generally, the interest in state fragility was spurred by security considerations in the wake of the terrorist attacks of ‘9/11’. Fragile states came to be seen as a potential incubator of state collapse, which would result in the creation of ‘ungoverned spaces’, where crime and terrorism would develop (François and Sud 2006: 145). Overall, the focus on fragility is part of a more general trend of ‘securitisation of development’, which is preoccupied with creating conditions for stability in the developing world. As Duffield (2001: 310) has argued, ‘stability is achieved by activities designed to reduce poverty, satisfy basic needs, strengthen economic sustainability, create representative civil institutions, protect the vulnerable and promote human rights’. The reconstruction of ‘fragile states’ is the latest witness to the securitisation of development