Description
Can development strategies shape ideas, narratives, and practices of security? Additionally, can we trace the enduring impacts of colonial occupation and governance through these development programs? Scholars in development studies have noted that international aid programs often extend colonial practices. Similarly, research on the "security-development" nexus has explored how certain security concepts shape relationships between former colonial powers and former colonies, often leading to the securitization of development policies.
Building on these insights, this paper examines the 2021-2025 strategy of the French Development Agency (Agence française de développement – AFD), specifically its regional directorate for North Africa (Direction régionale Afrique du Nord – DRAN), which covers Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt.
The strategy emphasizes three main objectives: enhancing resilience to climate change, strengthening the social contract, and promoting social and economic transformation. Through Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper demonstrates how specific economic and social issues are securitized and how the French approach to development in some of these countries is influenced by a legacy of colonial governance.
