Development and Security: Origins and Future

Abstract

Abstract The problems of development and security have historically formed distinct discourses. More recently, they have been inextricably linked both in discourse and in much policy, thus creating the so-called development—security nexus that pervades much of today’s international development assistance. The empirical basis for attention to this nexus has been quite obvious given the many humanitarian emergencies occurring in the 1990s. It is less clear what, in terms of linkages, went before and what will come after. This article discusses the putative nexus in different historical geopolitical contexts, probing into its origins and speculating about the shape it may take in the future. It consists of three parts. The first deals with conceptual issues and the overall theoretical framework. The second describes four historical discourses, consecutively prevalent from about 1750 to 1980. The third concerns the current discourse on globalization and its possible future shape: global development.