Blair's Africa: The politics of securitization and fear

Alternatives

Volumn 30, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 55-80

  Abrahamsen, Rita ^a  

^a ABERYSTWYTH UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Africa; Development; New Labour; Securitization; War on terrorism

Indexed keywords

EID: 18844384385     PISSN: 03043754     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/030437540503000103     Document Type: Article

References (122)

1. Tony blair, "speech to the Labour Party Conference," October 2, 2001, Guardian (London), October 3, 2001.
2. Piette Abramovici, "Precious Resources in Need of Protection: United States: The New Scramble for Africa," Le Monde Diplomatique, July 2004;
3. Stephen Ellis, "Briefing: The Pan-Sahel Initiative," African Affairs 103, no. 412 (2004): 459-464;
4. Jeremy Keenan, "American and 'Bad People' in the Sahara-Sahel," Review of African Political Economy 31, no. 99(2004): 130-139;
5. Princeton N. Lyman and J. Stephen Morrison, "The Terrorist Threat in Africa," Foreign Affairs 83, no. 1 (2004): 74-86.
6. In other words, this article does not seek to evaluate New Labour's policy in sub-Saharan Africa. For such critical evaluations, see Rita Abrahamsen and Paul Williams, "Ethics and Foreign Policy: The Antinomies of New Labour's 'Third Way' in Sub-Saharan Africa," Political Studies 49, no. 2 (2001): 249-264;
7. Comfort Ero, "A Critical Assessment of Britain's Africa Policy," Conflict, Security, Development 1, no. 2 (2001): 51-71.
8. For useful discussions of the broadening of the security agenda, see Jon Barnett, The Meaning of Environmental Security (London: Zed Books, 2000);
9. Keith Krause and Michael C. Williams, eds., Critical Security Studies (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997);
10. Steve Smith, "The Increasing Insecurity of Security Studies," Contemporary Security Policy 20, no. 3 (1999): 72-101.
11. The Copenhagen school refers to the research project developed principally by Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver at the Conflict and Peace Research Institute (COPRI), Copenhagen, since the mid-1980s. For critical evaluations of this project, see Jef Huysmans, "Revisiting Copenhagen, or about the Creative Development of a Security Studies Agenda in Europe," European Journal of International Relations 4, no. 4 (1998): 488-506;
12. Bill McSweeny, "Identity and Security: Buzan and the Copenhagen School," Review of International Studies 22, no. 1 (1996): 81-93;
13. Michael C. Williams, "Modernity, Identity, and Security: A Comment on the Copenhagen Controversy," Review of International Studies 24, no. 3 (1998): 435-439;
14. Michael C. Williams, "Words, Images, Enemies: Securitization and International Politics," International Studies Quarterly 47 (2003): 511-531.
15. Ole Wæver, "Securitization and Desecuritization," in Ronnie Lipschutz, ed., On Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), p. 57.
16. Jef Huysmans, "The Question of the Limit: Desecuritization and the Aesthetics of Horror in Political Realism," Millennium 27, no. 3 (1998): 569-589.
17. Wæver, note 6, p. 55.
18. Williams, "Words, Images, Enemies," note 5.
19. Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver, and Jaap de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1997).
20. Williams, "Words, Images, Enemies," note 5.
21. Buzan, Wæver, and de Wilde, note 10, pp. 2-5, 203-212;
22. Wæver, note 6, p. 47.
23. Buzan et al., note 10, p. 26.
24. Didier Bigo, "The Möbius Ribbon," in Mathias Albert, David Jacobson, and Yosef Lapid, eds., Identities, Orders, Borders (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000);
25. Didier Bigo, "When Two Become One: Internal and External Securitizations in Europe," in Morten Kelstrup and Michael C. Williams, eds., International Relations Theory and the Politics of European Integration: Power, Security, and Community (London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 171-204.
26. Wæver, note 6, p. 54.
27. Barry Buzan, "Environment as a Security Issue," in Paul Painchaud, ed., Geopolitical Perspectives on Environmental Security (Quebec: Cahier du GERPE, Lavai University, 1992).
28. This might be one reason why nongovernmental organizations concerned with development sometimes speak the language of securitization.
29. Baroness Amos, "British Policy Towards Africa: Championing a New Partnership from the North," speech at Wilton Park, September 3, 2002. Unless otherwise stated, all speeches are from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Web site, fco.gov.uk.
30. Huysmans, note 7, p. 577.
31. Wæver, note 6, p. 64.
32. Huysmans, note 7, p. 572.
33. Christopher Clapham, African and the International System (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 88.
34. Robin Cook, "British Foreign Policy," speech launching the Foreign Office mission statement, London, May 12, 1997
35. and idem, "Britain's New Approach to the World," speech to Labour Party Conference, Brighton, October 2, 1997.
36. Tony Lloyd, "Speech to the Africa Day Conference," Lancaster House, London, May 26, 1999.
37. Jack Straw, "Africa Matters," Independent on Sunday (London), February 3, 2002;
38. Baroness Amos, "New Partnership for Africa's Development: The Challenges and Opportunities," speech by the parliamentary undersecretary for foreign and commonwealth affairs to the South Africa Business Association, London, January 28, 2002.
39. Cook, "Britain's New Approach," note 23.
40. Department for International Development (DFID), Eliminating World Poverty: Makinng globalization Workd for the Poor, White Paper on International Development (London: DFID, 2000), p. 15;
41. tony blair, "The Principles of Modern British Foreign Policy," speech, Lord Mayor's Banquet, London, November 10, 1997;
42. Cook "Britain's New Approach," note 23.
43. DFID, note 27.
44. Ibid., pp. 13, 15.
45. Robin Cook, "Promoting Peace and Prosperity in Africa," speech, UN Security Council, New York, September 24, 1998.
46. Clare Short, "Speech to the Labour Party Conference," Bournemouth, September 30, 1999 (italics added): www.dfid.gov.uk.
47. Colin Gordon, "Governmental Rationality: An Introduction," in Graham Burchell, Colin Gordon, and Peter Miller, eds., The Foucault Effect (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), pp. 1-51;
48. Giovanna Proccacci, "Social Economy and the Government of Poverty," The Foucault Effect ibid., pp. 151-168.
49. Jeremy Bentham, The Theory of Legislation (London: Routledge, 1950).
50. Harry S. Truman, "Inaugural Speech," Public Papers of the President (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949).
51. Mark Duffield, Global Governance and the New Wars (London: Zed Books, 2001), p. 121.
52. Wæver, note 6, p. 62.
53. Robin Cook, "Conflict Prevention in the Modern World," speech, UN General Assembly, 54th session, New York, September 21, 1999;
54. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Human Rights: Annual Report, 1999 (London: FCO, 1999).
55. DFID (with FCO and Ministry of Defence), The Causes of Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa: Framework Document (London: DFID, 2001). The joint production of the document is in itself evidence of the greater policy coherence between development and more "political" departments associated with the post-Cold War merger of security and development.
56. See Joanna Macrae and Nicholas Leader, "Shifting Sands: The Search for Coherence between Political and Humanitarian Responses to Complex Emergencies," Humanitarian Policy Group, Report 8 (London: ODI, 2000).
57. DFID, note 38, p. 14.
58. Ibid., p. 21.
59. DFID, note 27, p. 14 (italics added).
60. Straw, note 25.
61. use the terms terrorism and terrorist when referring to the type of violence that targets a sample of noncombatant, non-office-holding individuals of a political community so as to terrorize the remainder of that community. Such violence is primarily symbolic, rather than strategic, the death of the victims being a message to a third party. Jeroen Gunning, "Making Sense of al-Qaeda in Europe": www.sant.ox.ac.uk/princeton/pap_gunning.shtml.
62. Blair, note 1.
63. Straw, note 25.
64. I b i d.
65. See, for example, Gerald B. Helman and Steven R. Ratner, "Saving Failed States," Foreign Policy 89 (Spring 1993): 3-20;
66. Robert Jackson, The Global Covenant (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), esp. chapter 11;
67. Robert D. Kaplan, "The Coming Anarchy: How Scarcity, Crime, Overpopulation, and Disease Are Rapidly Destroying the Social Fabric of Our Planet," Atlantic Monthly (February 1994): 44-76;
68. Robert I. Rothberg, ed., When States Fail: Causes and Consequences (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003);
69. I. William Zartman, ed., Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1995).
70. Jack Straw, "Failed and Failing States," speech to the European Research Institute, Birmingham, September 6, 2002.
71. The preface to The Security Strategy of the United States of America (Washington, D.C.: The White House, 2002) states that the "events of September 11, 2001, taught us that weak states, like Afghanistan, can pose as great a danger to our national interest as strong states." The paper also argues that "[i]n Africa, promise and opportunity sit side by side with disease, war, and desperate poverty. This threatens both the core value of the United States-preserving human dignity-and our strategic priority - combating global terror" (p. 10).
72. Straw, note 48.
73. See Kaplan, note 47; Helman and Ratner, note 47;
74. and Robert Cooper, "The New Liberal Imperialism," Observer Worldview Extra, April 7, 2002: www.observer.co.uk.
75. Doug Farah, "Terror Thrives in the Rich Ruins of Africa," Washington Post
76. reprinted in Sunday Independent (Cape Town), January 6, 2002;
77. JeanLouis Peninou, "Horn of Africa: Al-Qaida Regroups?" Le Monde diplomatique, December, 2001;
78. Global Witness, "For a Few Dollar$ More: How al-Qaeda Moved into the Diamond Trade," April 2003: www.globalwitness.org.
79. Cooper, note 50.
80. Tony Blair provides the foreword for Cooper's more extended treatment of these ideas in Reordering the World: The Long Term Implications of September 11 (London: Foreign Policy Centre, 2002).
81. See also Cooper, The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century (London: Atlantic Books, 2003).
82. Straw, note 48 (italics added).
83. Chris Mullin, "Our Role Is to Help Africa Help Itself," speech, Council of Foreign Relations, New York, February 4, 2004.
84. Blair, note 1.
85. Huysmans, note 7.
86. I b i d.
87. Wæver, note 6;
88. see also R. B. J. Walker, Inside/Outside: International Relations as Political Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993);
89. and David Campbell, Writing Security (Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 1998).
90. As Didier Bigo has argued, securitizations are also frequently part of political struggles between political and professional agents in specific arenas, the former intent to mobilize public support, the latter to maintain their professional legitimacy. This is probably also the case in relation to Africa's securitization in recent years. See Bigo, note 14.
91. See Michael C. Williams, "The Discipline of the Democratic Peace: Kant, Liberalism, and the Social Construction of Security Communities," European Journal of International Relations 7, no. 4 (2001): 525-553.
92. William Connolly, Identity/Difference: Democratic Negotiation of Political Paradox (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991), p. 43.
93. Blair, note 1.
94. For a discussion of liberalism and security, see Michell Dean, Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern Society (London: Sage, 1999).
95. Barry Hindess, Discourses on Power: From Hobbes to Foucault (London: Basil Blackwell, 1996).
96. See Michel Foucault, Governmentality, in Gordon Burchell, Colin Gordon, and Peter Miller, eds., The Foucault Effect (Hemel Hempstead, UK: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1991).
97. Daniel Defert, "'Popular Life' and Insurance Technology," in Burchell, Gordon, and Miller, eds., note 64, p. 232;
98. see also James Ferguson, The Anti-Politics Machine (Minneapolis: Minnesota University press, 1994).
99. This is Cooper's "new liberal - and voluntary - imperialism," a world where "the efficient and well governed export stability and liberty" to welcoming poor and "failed" states. Cooper, note 50.
100. John Stuart Mill, "Considerations on Representative Government," in Mill, Utilitarianism, On Liberty, and Considerations on Prerepresentative Government, ed. H. B. Acton (London: Dent, 1976), pp. 376-393.
101. Cooper, note 50.
102. Straw, note 48.
103. "Joint Task Force Horn of Africa Briefing," U.S. Department of Defense, news transcript, January 10, 2003: www.defenselink.mil/news;
104. Keenan, note 2;
105. Ellis, note 2.
106. "Joint Task Force."
107. Information from www.fco.gov/globalissues.
108. Blair, note 1;
109. Straw, note 48;
110. Mullin, note 54.
111. Note the recent drop in asylum applications in the United Kingdom, where in 2003, compared with 2002, there was a 41 percent decline in new applications (excluding dependents), reflecting similar developments in other industrialized countries.
112. BBC News, August, 24, 2004: www.news.bbc.co.uk. For critical comments
113. , see "An unjust 'Vision' for Europe's Refugees," Human Rights Watch, June 17, 2003: www.hrw.org/background/refugees/uk. On the erosion of civil liberties
114. see Tony Bunyan, "The War on Freedom and Democracy," Statewatch Analysis 13 (2002): www.statewatch.org/news.
115. Mullin, note 54.
116. Straw, note 48.
117. On "state failure" and international influences, see for example, Michel Chossodovsky, "Human Security and Economic Genocide in Rwanda," in Caroline Thomas and Peter Wilkin, eds., Globalization, Human Security, and the African Experience (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1999);
118. William Reno, "Ironies of Post-Cold War Structural Adjustment in Seira Leone, " Review of African Political Economy 67 (1996): 7-18;
119. Rita Abrahamsen, "Development Policy and the Democratic Peace in Sub-Saharan Africa," Conflict, Security and Development 1, no. 3 (2001): 79-103.
120. See, for example, Hugo Young, "Simple but Heartfelt Vision of Promises and Dreams," Guardian, October 3, 2001;
121. and Stryker McGuire, "Onward, Christian Soldier," Newsweek, December 3, 2001.
122. As an illustration, DFID is currently inviting applications from private companies to provide intelligence and security advice to the Sierra Leone government in order to help establish an effective security and intelligence framework.