Eamonn McConnon | Law and Government
Eamonn McConnon
In 2000 Eamonn completed his BA in Archaeology and Sociology (2.1) from University College Dublin,
before going on to work in commercial archaeology. He developed an interest in
international studies through his volunteer work, with OXFAM and the Vincentian Refugee Centre, and
returned to education in 2009 to pursue an MA in International Security and Conflict Studies in Dublin
City University (1st class honours). He commenced his PhD in 2010 and passed his viva voce in January
2015, with Prof. Rita Abrahamsen of the University of Ottawa as examiner, and will graduate in
November 2015.
Eamonn’s research interests are: the merging of development and security, the use of development aid
for conflict prevention and resolution, failed states and security and development in Africa.
PhD Title:
The Security-Development Nexus as Risk Management: A Multiple-Donor Case Study of the Coordination of Security and Development in US, UK and Canadian policy.
Abstract:
The last twenty years has seen calls for greater coordination between security and development policy, based on assumptions of the interconnectedness of security and development. Since 9/11 and the War on Terror (WoT), the national security of Western states has been added to this relationship. This research seeks to understand this dimension of development aid contributing to donor national security: as part of mainstream development policy, over an extended period of time and across multiple donors. This is done through content and discourse analyses of donor policy documents complemented with interviews with key informants in donor development agencies and fieldwork interviews in Ethiopia and Kenya. This case study approach: looks at a time period from the late 1990s to 2012 to capture the merging of security and development both pre and post-9/11; looks at the US, the UK and Canada to separate out the differences between donors approaches; looks at both the development and security policy of these donors to capture any influence development has on security in addition to security influencing development; and looks at how these donors have dealt with security in their development programmes in Ethiopia and Kenya. From this it is argued that in the security-development nexus, development aid is expected to manage long-term risks to the national security of donors.
Publications:
McConnon, Eamonn (2014) 'Security for all, Development for Some? The Incorporation of security in UK Development Policy.' Journal of International Development, 26(8): 1127-1148.
McConnon, Eamonn (2014) 'Fighting Poverty to Fight Terrorism: Security in DfID's Development Policy During the War on Terror' Forum for Development Studies, 41(1): 135-157.
Conference Presentations:
2014 – ‘Who is to be secured by “human security”? Connections between national security and human security in US and UK development policy’, Global Insecurities International Conference, University of Bristol, November 22nd 2014.
2013- ‘Security for all, development for some? The merging of security in UK development policy’ at the UK Development Studies Association Annual Conference at the University of Birmingham on November 16th 2013.
2012- ‘Securitisation of Development or Developmentalisation of Security: the effects of the War on Terror on DfID’s Development Policy’ at the Political Studies Association Annual Conference at the Europa Hotel in Belfast on April 5th 2012.