Abstract

How has the link between development and security been constructed at the end of World War II? What are the main theoretical and practical results of the ongoing process of securitization of development? In which sense foreign aid is in itself a peculiar defensive strategy? How is it possible that foreign aid weakens recipient countries' sovereignty when it is presumed to be a tool to reinforce it? In which sense does foreign aid allow for the conservation of order while simultanously pointing to its transformation in the name of justice? Starting from the assumption that foreign aid is to be investigated in itself, and thus beyond its discursive overlapping with development, the essay addresses these questions with the aim of illustrating the many and different ways in which foreign aid has always been, and still is, a crucial and specific component of the donor countries' conceptions and strategies of security.