Reducing poverty with teargas and batons: The security–development nexus in Sierra Leone

摘要

This article examines the United Kingdom’s Department fornInternational Development’s understanding of the correlations betweennsecurity and development at the policy level, and contrasts this with onthe-nground experiences in Sierra Leone. Drawing on fieldwork fromnSierra Leone, the article shows how DFID policy appears to have takennthe correlation between security and development for granted. As thenlead international actor implementing Sierra Leone’s security sectornreform programme, DFID relies upon the validity of the security–developmentnnexus to justify time, money, and expertise spent on issues ofnsecurity. The relationship between these phenomena is presented asncommonsensical and uncontested, but the specific nature of the relationshipnhas been glossed over, with little real empirical evidence to demonstratennexus claims. In Sierra Leone newfound security has so far failednto produce the anticipated development, suggesting that the causal linknbetween security and development may not be as straightforward asnimplied. The article concludes that more precise investigations of thenmanner in which security and development interact in practice arenneeded.