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Governing the borderlands: decoding the power of aid
1Institute for Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds. m.duffield@leeds.ac.uk
Disasters
|January 10, 2002
Summary
International aid is increasingly securitized, shifting focus from state relations to population behavior modulation. New contractual regimes and risk analysis help manage global aid networks and govern borderlands effectively.
Area of Science:
- Global governance studies
- International relations
- Development studies
Background:
- Aid practice involves complex public-private networks linking governments, UN agencies, NGOs, and private companies.
- These networks are increasingly framed within global liberal governance structures.
- The concept of 'securitisation' is applied to international assistance, linking it to human security and vulnerability reduction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine aid practice as a form of global liberal governance.
- To analyze the 'securitisation' of international assistance and its implications.
- To explore the challenges of 'governing at a distance' within aid networks and potential solutions.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of public-private contractual networks in aid.
- Examination of the 'securitisation' paradigm in international assistance.
- Investigation of risk analysis and new contractual regimes (standardization, benchmarking, auditing).
Main Results:
- Aid is securitized, aiming to modulate population behavior rather than solely focusing on state relations.
- Privatization opportunities are exploited within this security paradigm.
- Challenges in 'governing at a distance' arise due to numerous private and non-government implementers.
Conclusions:
- Risk analysis and new contractual regimes are crucial for managing complex aid networks.
- Metropolitan states are developing new methods to govern public-private aid networks.
- These developments enable novel approaches to governing borderlands through aid practice.