Global Governance and the New Wars: The Merging of Development and Security

by Mark Duffield

War is now an important part of development discourse. Aid agencies have become involved in humanitarian assistance, conflict resolution and the social reconstruction of war-torn societies. This deeply thoughtful book explores the growing merger of development and security. Its author unravels the nature of the new wars - in Africa, the Balkans, Central Asia - and the response of the international community, in particular the new systems of global governance that are emerging as a result.

The breakdown of order is seen as symptomatic of long-term social economic crisis, the social exclusion of wide strata of populations and internal conflict. Instead of the historic goals of modernity, development to reduce inequality, and a central role for the state, we have a neo-medieval situation in which overlapping and fragmented sovereignties confront an increasingly weakened central authority.

The consequences, as Duffield shows, are far-reaching. Development now focuses primarily on the shortcomings of structures within the South. Aid is privatized. A rising level of violence and misery are accepted as normal, and new forms of humanitarian aid intervention, far from solving the problem, accommodate and coexist with this instability and inequality. Pessimistic perhaps, but this book is profound in its insights and pregnant with policy implications.

Genres: Politics, International Relations, International Development, Nonfiction, History, Africa, International Affairs

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 29, 2001

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm hesitant to recommend Mark Duffield's book because it is fairly dense and slow-going. But if you have the willpower and the time, it's undoubtedly worth it, especially the first half (and if you're interested in goings-on in Sudan, also the last half). Duffield takes on the project of attempting to articulate and critique the new configurations and apparatuses of power being brought together by NGOs, IGOs (inter-governmental organizations), corporations, states, and new forms of 'legitimate' force and authority, including paramilitaries and for-hire military contractors. All these come together to form what Duffield calls 'the complex of global liberal governance,' aiming to create 'liberal peace,' by which he means a certain level of 'stability' and 'development' as outlined by U.S. and European government/aid agency policy. Some of the main results of liberal peace include the blurring of traditional government, military, and civilian lines, as well as of the distinction between times of war and times of 'peace'.

Duffield certainly levels criticism at all of this, but he focuses his critique on the policy of aid agencies, for numerous reasons: their inability to see themselves as part of a political complex, both in their home country and in the country of operation, rather than as some entity merely in-putting economic wealth; their movement to a consequentialist ethics, focused on outcomes rather than actions, effectively approving and normalising violence, if a greater gain can be had from it; and a general inability to divorce themselves from military discourse, evidenced by facts such as that 'development' agencies now speak in terms of 'security,' and aim not so much to help people as to create a certain level of economic stability to prevent 'outright' war, ignoring other social needs and injustices. He demonstrates some of how this happens through a case study of Sudan (he was a lead director for an NGO working in Sudan for a number of years before beginning his research), showing the inability of aid agencies through nearly 20 years of work to actually effectively help the Dinka people.

I'm still trying to sort out the sheer amount of information that I received from this book; I can sort of feel it altering my conception of the world, a drop at a time, as it seeps through. It's a little sad that I have absolutely no will to re-read it because it took me so long to slog through it the first time. Maybe some day...

[Jack Taccons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denso e ricco di informazioni, il libro di Duffield presenta tesi molto convincenti, dalla formulazione della teoria della pace liberale, che dà vita a inedite combinazioni di attori statali e non, fino all'analisi dei complessi politici emergenti, di natura principalmente illiberale. Consigliato se vi appassionano le relazioni internazionali.

[Lukáš · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duffield provides a very deep insight into the problems of the "strategic complexes" of development "borderzones". Building on his deep empirical knowledge of the praxis of the development community and the realities of the developing world, this offers him to describe the ways how development became radicalized via the growth in the complexity of the political terrain of the South. Not just that his extremely self-aware and critical lens into the problematic offered a breakthrough for the broader development community, as well this book offers a lot for comprehension of his later work, which becomes even more concerned with the "how" ways of the "what" he has described in. Not to mention the contribution to both debates on security, development, political economy and racism in (especially) African space. An essential reading, if this is in any way close to your topic.

[Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book could have been a lot simpler, the message it was trying to convey felt convoluted to an extent, a good read overall, the book does give quite an insightful perspective into the entire "4th world country" concept

[agattina · Rating 4 out of 5]

buono dai

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Duffield analyses the man in which the goals of security and development have merged, in the interests of the liberal west. Analyses how perpetual interventionism is occurring, in order to control the illiberal parts of the world. Sees conflicts as symptoms of globalization, and disagrees with intervenionist assertions that Kantian peace can be achieved through warfighing in the name of peace. The problem is not local 'new wars', its the international system which creates them.

[Nikki Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is DENSE, hard to slog through, but, in the end, very informative. Very thoughtful critique of the ways in which development goals have been overtaken by security concerns.