Abrahamsson, Linking Global Security and Human Development (June 2004)

"This paper addresses the question why the Millennium Development Declaration must not be understood as rhetoric only but instead foremost as a consequence of new national security interests emerging in the Western Hemisphere. The argument of this paper is that such changed geopolitical realities not only implies a renaissance for the international development cooperation, but that such a renaissance, as such, also contributes to the possibilities to seize the historical opportunity to transform world order structures. If properly designed and channelled, the international development cooperation in fact constitutes one of the main tools for implementing a policy bringing the security and development perspectives more close to each other. Such a securitization of the international development cooperation should not necessarily be understood in terms of a strengthened realist approaches to security. Instead, it should be understood as a gradual transformation of national security into what is needed for a combination of global and human security. In fact, the securitization of aid reflects the present convergence of the different discourses framing its scope and design."