The European Union has integrated governance and security in its agenda for Africa. But the European policy is mostly driven by the relationships prevailing among the European Union’s main decision-making institutions. African security issues have provoked competition between the different member states and European institutions eager to play the role of ‘lead agency’.

Over the last 20 years, the international community has been developing a holistic approach to development that stresses the links between security, good governance and economic development. A paper from the Institute of Development Studies, in the UK, examines how European Union (EU) policy in Africa has drawn on this approach, but has failed to suppress the divergent interests of its member states and institutions.

The EU sees itself as a major actor on the international scene, and has taken upon itself the mandate of helping African states facing difficulties. However, the EU is not only composed of member states with different interests, it is also an organisation formed of many different institutions. The EU African security policy is therefore often driven by internal power relations.

The importance of these institutional dynamics can be seen through a threefold process. First, African security is a field likely to provide new legitimacy for development policies led by the European Community (EC). Second, African security is a field of experimentation for the institutional bodies responsible for the definition and implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Third, African security is a field of ‘Europeanisation’ for security policies traditionally implemented by individual European states according to their national interests.

In fact, the consistency and the credibility of the EU security policy in Africa will depend on the convergence between these three processes. Key findings include:

• EC bodies are not used to working together, often pursue different or even contradictory objectives, and may wish to lead policies to secure extra funding and autonomy.
• The EU African security policy is affected by member state interests, pushed by European civil servants within the EC: there are disagreements about funding and cooperation with non-EU bodies.
• European security structures are very young and therefore compete for legitimacy with NATO and older and more experienced EC institutions.

Competition rather than cooperation remains the pattern in EU inter-institutional relations. The European approach to conflict prevention and management in Africa depends on the EU’s capacity to overcome rivalries between the different institutions, and coordinate the interests of its member states. The authors recommend:

• Where funding is concerned, there is an urgent need to coordinate existing financial tools.
• The status of military cooperation needs to be made clear.
• It is important to define the roles of the EU’s different institutions.
• To improve coordination, documents defining the EU’s external relations and security policies must be adjusted to the current international environment and to the EU’s most recent institutional evolutions.

Source(s):
‘The European Union in Africa: The Linkage Between Security, Governance and Development from an Institutional Perspective’, IDS Working Paper 284, IDS: Brighton, by Niagalé Bagoyoko and Marie V. Gibert, 2007 (PDF) Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 28 March 2008

Further Information:
Niagalé Bagoyoko
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9RE, UK

Tel: +44 1273 877305
Fax: +44 1273 877305
Contact the contributor: n.bagayoko-penone@ids.ac.uk

Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK

Marie V. Gibert
School of Oriental & African Studies
Thornhaugh Street
Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG, UK

Tel: +44 20 76372388
Fax: +44 20 74363844
Contact the contributor: mariegibert@soas.ac.uk

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK

Other related links:
'Making European aid democratic'

'European aid to strengthen governance, democracy and human rights'

The European Consensus on Development

Recent shifts in EU policy on development aid