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Contributions from
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Monitor
Africa policy: Europe on the wrong track
World Investment Report 2005
Aid pledges for Africa to be monitored
Information summit to discuss control of internet
UN convention against corruption
Disappointing OECD guidelines
Bertelsmann Foundation rates progress
A new definition for the wealth of nations
Trade: disruptive chicken wings
IMF and World Bank endorse debt relief
Development and security: more cooperation needed
11/2005
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[ Development and security ]
Researchers demand more cooperation
Terrorism, ethnic conflicts, environmental disasters and the spread of HIV/AIDS present a greater threat to human security today than wars between countries. Therefore, security is increasingly becoming a development issue. Even military missions more and more relate to development policy. In the past, most donors insisted on a clear separation between these two policy areas and their respective actors. However, this gap has grown smaller with military interventions in crisis countries in recent years. Development policy and development agencies have become particularly relevant in post-conflict situations.
There are now the first signs of donors acting along joint strategies and concepts. Furthermore, they have agreed to accept funding for certain security measures as official development assistance. At the 11th General Conference of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) in Bonn in September, Klaus Reinhardt, a retired General and former head of the peace mission in Kosovo, advocated strengthening cooperation between the two political fields. In his view, combining the strengths of military and civil institutions would considerably increase the chances of peace-keeping missions succeeding.
However, there was also consensus among the more than 600 participants that closer coordination does not necessarily eliminate conflicts of interests between the various policy fields. For that reason, development actors should only become involved in missions that have been internationally authorised. Building regional peacekeeping forces should be given priority.
As an actor of international significance, Europe carries much responsibility in world politics. The EU cannot avoid becoming involved in the world’s fragile states. Louis Michel, EU commissioner for development, stresses the relevance of developmental perspectives in this context. However, EU development cooperation can only rise to the challenges if the Commission and the member states cooperate closely. Sadly, this is not normally the case. According to Michel, the new declaration on European development policy that the Commission and EU Council want to present shortly will be an important step in the right direction.
The commissioner endorsed the proposal to extend the dialogue between the Commission and the research institutes in the EADI network. Simon Maxwell, Director of the British Overseas Development Institute, called upon EADI to build up a European network and thus create a counterbalance to US-dominated research. The European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes was founded in 1975 and currently has around 300 members in 29 countries.
Petra Schmidt
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