Fragile states have become an important development and security issue in the Asia Pacific region, not least for Australia, which has in recent years involved itself in the fates of several such states (including Afghanistan, Fiji, East Timor, PNG and Solomon Islands). Australia’s engagement with fragile states and ‘state-building’ seems likely to continue but the state of knowledge around state-building and human security issues remains modest.
The notion that “development without security is impossible; security without development is only temporary” is gaining ground among governments and international organisations. In the foreground are often security concerns, including warlordism, small arms and light weapons proliferation, law and order breakdown, secessionist movements, civil war, and these concerns have been heightened, at least in the eyes of Australia and other western nations, by the threats of transnational terrorism and growing refugee movements. Beneath lie a range of interconnected vulnerabilities related to environmental degradation, global capitalism, inequality, population growth, etc. The tightening embrace of security and development raises important questions for research, policy and practice.
Members in this team work on research in the following areas:
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