The negotiation of the post-Millennium Development Goal (MDG) framework offers the opportunity to develop targets that reflect a more nuanced understanding of the challenge of development. A number of areas are being considered for inclusion in the post-2015 framework, on the basis of their causal or correlated relationship with development. One area in which significant work has been undertaken since the MDGs were agreed in 2000 has been in relation to the role that insecurity or violence plays in constraining development and, concomitantly, the enabling role that peace and stability play in promoting it. This paper examines the arguments and proposals for including a security-related target in the post-MDG framework. First, the basis for the proposals will be examined, setting out how security and development are correlated. Second, the proposals within the policy literature on how security could be included in the post-2015 framework will be set out, highlighting at least five schools of thought on how this might be done. Third, some of the key constituencies either pushing for or likely to support a security-related target are examined, before finally addressing some of the challenges around developing such a goal, with its attendant targets and indicators. While there appears to be a growing community of support for the inclusion of security as part of the new development framework, the manner in which this is to be done remains varied and inconsistent across this community. As a result, it is as yet unclear whether security is a credible potential goal for inclusion in the new framework.
Definitions
A number of different terms are used when discussing security-related issues that have important implications for the scope of what is and is not included. Most frequently, conflict is used to describe the kind of insecurity that holds back development. This was more accurate throughout the 1990s when civil wars (in which combatants fought for control of territory or the state apparatus) were the primary form of insecurity in many low income countries. However, more recently, other forms of insecurity have also emerged or been increasingly recognised, such as criminal and domestic violence, while the boundaries between various types of violence are seen to be increased overlapping (Krause et al 2011).