EU foreign policy and the security-development nexus

Abstract

This essay contributes to the discussion of the security-development nexus through an investigation of securitization discourse and the ‘threat’ of state fragility in the foreign policy of the European Union (EU). It argues that the use of the security-development nexus, which operates on the notion that development cannot be achieved without security and that security cannot be achieved without development, has emerged as a dominant idea in the international system, which has altered the relationships between states and populations by posing the human being as a ‘threat’ to state security. This has inevitable consequences for both states and their citizens. Securitization theory, or the articulated ‘speech act’ of security, is seen to play a significant role in the perpetuation of the idea of ‘threat,’ which drives the pursuit of security by and for states. Both security and development as concepts have ‘broadened’ and widened’ to address not only the needs of the state, but the needs of the human being as well. In this way, the emergence of ‘human security’ and ‘human development’ have set the stage for the security-development nexus in foreign policy. With this, however, the idea of ‘threat’ which has traditionally been centered on the state, has expanded to incorporate the human being. This essay uses the EU as a case study of the explicit use of the nexus in foreign policy. Not only has the EU been an influential security community on the international stage, but it has also consistently been a leader in development cooperation. With this, the EU’s definition of state fragility is examined, which reveals the trend of security operating on the terrain of human beings. This trend holds the potential to fundamentally alter the way foreign policy is made.