Changing donor policy and practice on civil society in the post-9/11 aid context

This paper argues that the 'global war on terror regime' has contributed towards the increasing securitisation of aid policy and practice. By this we understand a complex weaving of discourses, political alliances, policy and legislative shifts, institutional arrangements and practices. The trope of the 'global war on terror' serves as a mobilising discourse, used by global and political leaders in pursuit of military and political objectives. It embodies a polarising vision of the world, which pits modernity against backwardness, civilisation against barbarism, right against wrong, evil against good and freedom against oppression. This in turn triggers a global political re-ordering, generating new alliances and divisions, within and across states, redrawing the balance sheet of enemies and friends. The militaristic content of the phrase and the depiction of the enemy in extreme terms rationalises extraordinary responses such as pre-emptive military intervention and the rolling-back of civil liberties and human rights. The ‘global war on terror regime’ also involves the reconfiguring of institutional and policy arrangements, as reflected in the interweaving of development and security agendas.