The end of the security–development nexus? Reflections from counterinsurgency in north-eastern Nigeria

Abstract

In the light of an increasing shift from international interventionism based on liberal peacebuilding to shorter-term stabilisation efforts, this article questions the persistence of the security–development nexus as a theoretical framework backing military and non-military action in conflict-affected areas. It argues that the nexus has been weakened by the prominence gained by regional and national actors on the African continent trying to enforce ‘African solutions to African problems’. Drawing on interviews with key informants and mobilising relevant primary and secondary literature, the paper explores how ad hoc military coalitions created by African states to respond to crises on the continent are sanctioning the transition from long-term peacebuilding to short-term stabilisation objectives. Analysing the Nigerian government’s counterinsurgency strategy against Boko Haram, we argue that the country has completely dropped the ambition to tackle the root causes of the insurgency, and has instead turned to short-term (and short-sighted) security stabilisation operations in line with the global trend of disengagement from active peacebuilding and development promotion. Thereby, we contend that the adoption of this kind of ‘African solutions to African problems’ equals militarised crisis-management in the continent’s peripheries without advancing sustainable solutions to conflicts.