The Securitisation of the EU's Development Agenda in Africa: Insights from Guinea-Bissau

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa, although not among Europe's closest neighbours, has, over the past decade, increasingly been perceived as a source of threats to Europe's security. This article will attempt to outline European perceptions of African security and justice issues and how these perceptions have in turn influenced the EU's policies in Africa. Specific attention will be given here to Guinea-Bissau, which is a particularly interesting and illustrative case study, as this small country in West Africa has attracted considerable European engagement in such fields as illegal immigration, counter-terrorism, drug-combating and security sector reform. This European engagement through different, at times uncoordinated and overlapping, channels does not always make for a consistent approach and underlines a profound gap between what has come to be a generally accepted diagnostic – that international insecurity is caused, or at least facilitated, by weak states – and the remedies applied by the EU. While Europe increasingly perceives Africa's weak governance as a security threat, it remains unwilling to engage politically and on a longer-term basis on the continent.