Marijnen, E. (2017) The ‘green militarisation’ of development aid: the European Commission and the Virunga National Park, DR Congo. Third World Quarterly, 38 (7). pp. 1566-1582. ISSN 0143-6597
Abstract
To ‘save’ the Virunga National Park, located in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the European Commission (EC) allocates development aid to the paramilitary training of the park guards, their salaries, and mixed patrols of the guards together with the Congolese army. Moreover, the ‘development’ projects the EC supports around the park have militarising effects as they are based on a soft counter-insurgency approach to conservation and to address dynamics of violent conflict. This amounts to the ‘green militarisation’ of development aid. This article describes how a personalised network of policymakers within the EC renders militarised conservation-related violence and controversy around the Virunga park invisible, by framing contestations and violence in and around the park as solely caused by economic factors and motivations. Moreover, by ‘hiding’ the fact that the EC aid is used to fund armed conservation practices, policymakers circumvent political debate about the use of development funds for (para)military expenditures. While the existing literature focuses on the importance of securitised discourses to explain the militarisation of conservation, this article indicates that in addition, it is important to focus on these more mundane practices of securitisation within international organisations that ultimately fund the militarisation of conservation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017, Taylor & Francis. |
Keywords: | Development aid; nature conservation; militarisation; securitisation; Virunga National Park; Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 14 Mar 2017 15:59 |
Last Modified: | 13 Jul 2023 14:24 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2017.1282815 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/01436597.2017.1282815 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:113499 |