NGOs, corporations and security transformation in Africa

International Relations

Volumn 21, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 143-161

  Avant, Deborah ^a  

^a GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Development; NGOs; Securitization; Security; Transnational corporations

Indexed keywords

EID: 34249051303     PISSN: 00471178     EISSN: 17412862     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0047117807077000     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. The traditional view of state security presented below is stylized and not really a good reflection of security as practiced by states in the current era. It should be seen not as a fact but as a long-standing view of the essence of security among states.
2. See Ole Weaver, 'Securitization and Desecuritization', in Ronnie Lipschultz, On Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995); Barry Buzan, Ole Weaver and J. de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1998).
3. Stephen Walt, 'The Renaissance of Security Studies', International Studies Quarterly, 35(2), 1991, pp. 211-40; Richard Betts, 'Should Strategic Studies Survive?', World Politics, 50(1), 1997, pp. 7-33.
4. Jessica Tuchman Mathews, 'Redefining Security', Foreign Affairs, 68(2), 1989, pp. 162-88; Barry Buzan, People, States and Fear (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1991). See also the review in Roland Paris, 'Human Security: Paradigm Shift or Hot Air?', International Security, 26(2), 2001, pp. 87-102.
5. Mathews, 'Redefining Security'.
6. Weaver, 'Securitization and Desecuritization', p. 47.
7. Weaver, 'Securitization and Desecuritization', p. 55.
8. Michael C. Williams, 'Words, Images, Enemies: Securitization and International Politics', International Studies Quarterly, 47(4), 2003, p. 512.
9. Williams, 'Word, Images, Enemies', p. 515.
10. Williams, 'Word, Images, Enemies', p. 516.
11. Mathews, 'Redefining Security'; Paris, 'Human Security'.
12. Weaver, 'Securitization and Desecuritization'; Buzan et al., Security.
13. See, for example, John Ruggie, 'Continuity and Transformation in the World Polity: Toward a Neorealist Synthesis', World Politics, 35(2), 1983, pp. 261-85; Ronald Jepperson, Alexander Wendt and Peter Katzenstein, 'Norms, Identity and Culture in National Security', in Peter Katzenstein (ed.), Norms and National Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996). For arguments about identity related to actors other than states, see Margaret Keck and Katherine Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998); Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore, Rules for the World: International Organizations in World Politics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004).
14. An organization's mandate refers to its overall purpose and is often distinguished from its mission, which refers to its reason for operating in a particular situation.
15. Also important for NGO exposure was a shift in development policy in the late 1980s to funnel more aid directly to civil society through NGOs in order to avoid inefficient or corrupt states.
16. 'Somalia: Operation Puts Sealift Fleet in Glare of Global Stage', Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, 12 December 1992, p. 3808.
17. United Nations, Handbook of International NGO Programmes in Somalia (Mogadishu: NGO Consortium Information Office, November 1992), pp. 3-9.
18. See John M. George, 'The Politics of Peace: The Challenge of Civil-Military Cooperation in Somalia', Policy Management and Review, 2(2), 2002, pp. 1-34. See also Lori Fisher Damrosch, Enforcing Restraint: Collective Intervention in Internal Confl icts (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1993).
19. Dan Byman, 'Uncertain Partners: NGOs and the Military', Survival, 43(2), 2001, p. 97; Thomas Weiss, Military-Civilian Interactions: Intervention in Humanitarian Crises (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 1999).
20. Chris Sieple, The US Military/NGO Relationship in Humanitarian Interventions (Carlisle, PA: US Army Peacekeeping Institute, 1996); George, 'The Politics of Peace'.
21. Bruce Biber, 'The Code of Conduct: Humanitarian Principles in Practice', in Focus/Debate on Humanitarian Action, ICRC, 20 September 2004, available at: http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList88/ 477A25FA2C8B30EAC1256F1500288136 (accessed 15 August 2006).
22. Interview with Michael O'Neill, Director of Security, Save the Children, Washington DC (15 August 2006).
23. 'Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Response Programmes', available at http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/57JMNB#a3 (accessed 15 August 2006).
24. Fiona Terry, Condemned to Repeat (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002), p. 173.
25. Mary Anderson, Do No Harm: How AID can Support Peace - or War (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1999); Mark Frohart, Diane Paul and Larry Minear, 'Protecting Human Rights: The Challenge to Humanitarian Organizations', Occasional Paper no. 35, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, 1999.
26. Charles Rogers and Brian Sytsma, World Vision Security Manual: Safety Awareness for Aid Workers (Geneva: World Vision, 1999), p. 2.
27. Interview with Michael O'Neill.
28. For a discussion of the economic rationale behind these decisions, see Alexander Cooley and James Ron, 'The NGO Scramble: Organizational Insecurity and the Political Economy of Transnational Action', International Security, 27(1), 2003, pp. 5-39.
29. Michael Bryans, Bruce D. Jones and Janice Gross Stein, 'Mean Times: Humanitarian Action in Complex Political Emergencies - Stark Choices, Cruel Dilemmas', Report of the NGOs in Complex Emergencies Project, Coming to Terms, 1(3) (Center for International Studies, University of Toronto, 1999), available at the website of CARE Canada: www.care.ca (accessed 16 August 2006).
30. Gareth Evans and Mohamed Sahnoun, 'The Responsibility to Protect', Foreign Affairs, November/ December 2002, pp. 99-110.
31. Frohart et al., 'Protecting Human Rights'.
32. Pierre Krahenbuhl, 'Humanitarian Security: A Matter of Acceptance, Perception and Behavior', address given at the High-Level Humanitarian Forum, Palais des Nations, Geneva, 31 March 2004.
33. Deborah Avant, 'Conserving Nature in the State of Nature: The Politics of INGO Implementation', Review of International Studies, July 2004, pp. 361-82; David Reiff, 'Humanitarianism in Crisis', Foreign Affairs, November/December 2002, pp. 111-21.
34. Krahenbuhl, 'Humanitarian Security'.
35. Koenrad van Brabant, 'Security Guidelines: No Guarantee for Security', RRN Newsletter, 7 (London: Overseas Development Institute, 1997); Randolph Martin, 'NGO Field Security', Forced Migration Review, 4, April 1999, pp. 4-7; Koenrad van Brabant, 'Operational Security Management in Violent Environments: A Field Manuel for Aid Agencies', HPN Good Practice Review No. 8 (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2000).
36. Interview with Mike O'Neill.
37. Steven V. Price, War and Tropical Forests (New York: Haworth, 2003).
38. Anderson, Do No Harm; Van Brabant, 'Security Guidelines'; interview with Mike O'Neill.
39. Van Brabant, 'Security Guidelines'; Martin, 'NGO Field Security'.
40. Van Brabant, 'Security Guidelines'; Martin, 'NGO Field Security'.
41. Koenrad van Brabant, 'Mainstreaming Safety and Security Management in Aid Agencies', HPG Briefing No. 2 (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2001); Koenrad van Brabant, 'Mainstreaming the Organizational Management of Safety and Security: A Review of Aid Agency Practices and a Guide for Management', HPG Report No. 9 (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2001); NGO Security Working Group, Report of the Working Group on NGO Security Training Curriculum (Washington DC: USAID/OFDA, 1998/9).
42. The references to Koenrad van Brabant's 2001 report abound. Its security triangle and 'pragmatic acceptance' strategy informs the security practices of relief, development, conservation and multifaceted NGOs in the United States and around the world. See for example, http://www.interaction.org/library/detail.php?id=687; http://www.redr.org/london/training/trainingForTrainers/index.htm; http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/hpngpr.html (all accessed August 2006); International Gorilla Conservation Program, 'Safety and Security Manual' (Uganda: USAID and CDC, 1999).
43. Discussion at conference on 'The Politicisation of Humanitarian Action and Staff Security: The Use of Private Security Companies by Humanitarian Agencies', International Alert and the Feinstein International Famine Center, Tufts University, Boston, 23-4 April 2001.
44. David Adam, 'Wildlife Expert Persuades Notorious Rebel Army to Join Fight to Save Rare White Rhino', Guardian Unlimited, 13 September 2006.
45. Discussion at conference on 'The Politicisation of Humanitarian Action and Staff Security'.
46. nterview with Michael O'Neill.
47. Interview with Michael O'Neill.
48. See Robert C. O'Sullivan, 'Learning from OPIC's Experience with Claims and Arbitration', in Theodore H. Moran and Gerald T. West (eds), International Political Risk Management: Looking to the Future (Washington DC: World Bank, 2005), Annex B lists all the claims; the tabulations are mine. The OPIC is an independent US government agency that facilitates the participation of US private capital abroad - particularly in less-developed countries. Among other services, it sells political risk insurance. It was established in 1971 (from 1966 to 1970 OPIC programs were administered by USAID). See Sullivan, 'Learning from OPIC's Experience', Annex A. See also http://www.opic.gov/about/ index.asp (accessed August 2006).
49. Deborah Avant, The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005); Peter Singer, Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003).
50. Salih Booker and William Minter, 'The US and Nigeria: Thinking Beyond Oil', Great Decisions 2003, available at: www.greatdecisions.org, p. 45 (accessed August 2006); Okechukwu Ibeanu, 'Oiling the Friction: Environmental Conflict Management in the Niger Delta, Nigeria', in Environmental Change and Security Project Report, No. 6 (summer 2000), Washington DC; Bronwen Manby, The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria's Oil Producing Communities (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999).
51. Jedrzej George Frynas, 'Political Instability and Business: Focus on Shell in Nigeria', Third World Quarterly, 19(3), 1998, p. 466. Ken Saro-Wiwa and the 'Ogoni 8' were executed in 1995.
52. Manby, The Price of Oil, p. 167.
53. Ibeanu, 'Oiling the Friction', p. 22.
54. Scott Pegg, 'The Cost of Doing Business: Transnational Corporations and Violence in Nigeria', Security Dialogue, 30(4), 1999, pp. 473-84.
55. Harvard Business School, 'Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria', Harvard Business School Case 9-399-126, 20 (April 2000), p. 170.
56. 'Companies were responsible for paying, training, and equipping the police assigned to their facilities, including providing them with arms as necessary.' 'Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria', p. 5. The Shell police are part of the supernumerary police in Nigeria. These forces are trained by the state but then assigned to and paid by the oil companies. These forces only have police powers on the private property of the oil companies they are assigned to. See Rita Abrahamsen and Michael C. Williams, 'The Globalization of Private Security, Country Report: Nigeria', University of Wales, Aberystwyth, January 2005, available at: http://users.aber.ac.rbh/privatesecurity (accessed August 2006).
57. 'Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria', p. 9.
58. See, Ibeanu, 'Oiling the Friction', p. 21; http://www.essentialaction.org/shell/; http://www.moles.org/ ProjectUnderground/motherlode/shell/nig.html (both accessed August 2004). Concerted efforts by NGOs in the 1980s and 1990s often targeted transnational investment as well as states for human rights and environmental abuses. See Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders; Ann Florini (ed.), The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society (Washington DC: Japan Center for International Exchange and Carnegie Endowment, 2006).
59. Jane Wales, The Business for Peace: The Private Sector as a Partner in Conflict and Resolution (London: Prince of Wales Business Leaders' Forum, 2000), p. 134.
60. Wales, The Business for Peace. See also http://www.shell.com/home/ Framework?siteId=home (accessed August 2006).
61. Bennett Freeman, 'Managing Risk and Building Trust: The Challenge of Implementing the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights', remarks at 'Rules of Engagement: How Business Can Be a Force for Peace' conference, The Hague, 13 November 2002. See also 'Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights', US Department of State, Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, January 2001; Virginia Haufler, 'Is There a Role for Business in Conflict Prevention?' in Chester Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall (eds), Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict (Washington DC: USIP, 2001).
62. Wales, The Business of Peace, p. 7.
63. 'Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights'.
64. 'Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights'.
65. Interview with Michael Achu, External Security Liaison, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, March 2005, Abuja, Nigeria.
66. Abrahamsen and Williams, 'The Globalization of Private Security'. Given the competitive market, however, it is unclear that these appeals hold much sway - see p. 16.
67. Whether Shell's engagement with the community is adequate has been questioned. Some have complained that the MOUs are elitist and do little to meet the 'simple needs' of the vast majority. See Ibeanu, 'Oiling the Friction', p. 29.
68. 'Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria'; see also, Scott Pegg, 'An Emerging Market for the New Millennium: Transnational Corporations and Human Rights', unpublished manuscript.
69. 'Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria'; Pegg, 'An Emerging Market for the New Millennium'.
70. Marina Ottoway, 'Reluctant Missionaries', Foreign Policy, July/August 2001, pp. 44-55.
71. David Henderson, Misguided Virtue: False Notions of Corporate Social Responsibility (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2001), pp. 147-8; Ottoway, 'Reluctant Missionaries', p. 53.
72. Haufler, 'Is There a Role?'; Virginia Haufler, A Public Role for the Private Sector (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2001); Elliot Schrage, 'A Long Way to Find Justice: What are Burmese Villagers Doing in a California Court?', Washington Post, 14 July 2002, p. B2; Elliot Schrage, 'Judging Corporate Accountability in the Global Economy', Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, 42 (2003).
73. Stephen G. Brooks, Producing Security: Multinational Corporations, Globalization and the Changing Calculus of Conflict (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005).
74. In other words, attend not only to short-term profits but also to environmental and social impacts. See http://www.unglobalcompact.org/ (accessed August 2006).
75. See, for instance, Tim Sisk, Power Sharing and International Mediation in Ethnic Conflicts (Washington DC: United States Institute for Peace Press, 1996); Jock Covey, Michael J. Dziedzic and Leonard R. Hawley, The Quest for a Viable Peace (Washington DC: United States Institute for Peace, 2005). It is particularly prominent in discussions of building police. See David Bayley, Changing the Guard: Developing Democratic Police Abroad (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).
76. See Avant, The Market for Force, chapter 5; Singer, Corporate Warriors; Anna Leander, Eroding State Authority? Private Military Companies and the Legitimate Use of Force (Rome: Centro Militare di Studi Strategici, 2006).
77. Anna Leander and Rens van Munster, 'Private Security Contractors in the Debate about Darfur: Reflecting and Reinforcing Neoliberal Governmentality', this issue, pp. 201-16.