Human Security: Linking Development and Security in an Age of Terror

Human security is commonly understood as prioritising the security of people, especially their welfare, safety and well-being, rather than that of states. Instead of examining human security as a measurable or specific condition, however, the focus here is how human security as a technology of governance facilitates the way that populations living within the territories of ineffective states are understood, differentiated and acted upon by aid institutions emanating from effective ones. In order to do this, development is first defined biopolitically, that is, as a security technology related to promoting the life of populations that, compared to the inhabitants of developed societies, are essentially ‘non-insured’. Of special interest in this paper is how human security as a relation of governance has continued to evolve in relation to the war on terrorism. At the close of the 1990s, human security encapsulated a vision of integrating existing aid networks into a coordinated, international system of intervention able to complement the efforts of ineffective states in securing their citizens and economies. Compared to this more universalistic notion of human security, in which development and security were regarded as ‘different but equal’, the war on terrorism has deepened the interconnection between development and security. In particular, it is refocusing aid resources on those sub-populations, regions and issues seen as presenting a risk to homeland security. While some non-governmental organisations are concerned over growing threats to independence, for others new possibilities and opportunities for state/non-state interaction have emerged.