The Development-Security Nexus in Historical Perspective: Governing the World of Peoples

It is now commonplace for policy-makers to assert that 'if we help people who are less fortunate than ourselves, not only is it good for them, it is also good for us' (see Blair, 2001). This enlightened self-interest summarises how the current relationship between development and security is understood. That is, in fostering 'their' development, we simultaneously improve 'our' security. While often presented today as a new policy departure (DAC, 2003), the development-security nexus has a much longer genealogy. As part of his inaugural address in January 1949, for example, President Truman is credited with making one of the first calls for an interstate development regime tailored to the new post-war world. Besides drawing attention to a situation in which 'half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery', he pointed out that their poverty 'is a handicap and a threat to both them and to more prosperous areas' (Escobar, 1995, p. 3).KeywordsAsylum SeekerHuman SecurityLabour PartyEffective StateFragile StateThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.