Civil Society, Security and Aid: Shifting Donor Perspectives

Abstract

Concerned about the perceived threat to global markets and global security, UN leaders, politicians in Europe and the US have articulated a discourse that links security more firmly with development. Kofi Annan, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and George Bush have all rehearsed the refrain that poverty and terrorism are somehow interrelated. Though it has been increasingly acknowledged that the terrorists involved in the New York, London and Madrid attacks were not typically from impoverished backgrounds, illiterate or educated in madrassas, nevertheless the assumption of some connection between poverty, alienation, exclusion and radicalisation leading to terrorism continues to be made. Bilateral development agencies, international NGOs, some politicians in the South and development activists have in turn capitalised on this refrain to lobby for an increase in aid.

We will direct every resource at our command — every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war — to the disruption and to the defeat of the global terror network. Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen.

George W. Bush, former US President, address to joint session of Congress, 20 September 2001¹