The European Union : eager to politicise aid in Somalia? : a critical discourse analysis of the comprehensive approach of the EU in Somalia since the beginning of the civil war in 1990

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The European Union: Eager to politicise aid in

Somalia?

A critical discourse analysis of the comprehensive approach of the EU in Somalia since the beginning of the civil war in 1990.

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2 Student Information

First Name: Lotte Last Name: Prevoo

Student No.: 10469710

E-mail address: lotte.prevoo@student.uva.nl / lotteprevoo@gmail.com „Master thesis Political Science‟

Specialisation: European Security Politics Supervisor: Dr. Stephanie Simon Second Reader: Dr. Julien Jeandesboz

Word Count: 24.650

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„What begins with the failure to uphold the dignity of one life all too often ends

with a calamity for entire nations‟

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Acknowledgements

In this acknowledgement, I would like to express my thanks to the many people who assisted me during this process. Firstly, my sincere thanks to Dr. Stephanie Simon for the continuous support throughout my thesis process. From the initial to the final version, she provided me with profitable feedback and guided me towards a sharper sense of critical thinking. I also would like to thank the ICRC for providing me with information on the subject. Unfortunately, they were not in a position to participate in a telephone interview, but they did forward publications and documents which were useful for my purpose. Additionally, I would like to thank my fellow classmates of European Security Politics for their feedback on my drafts. Furthermore, I would like to thank Bart van der Noord for his encouragement, unwavering support and his „outsider‟ perspective. On the moments that everything seemed unreachable, his comforting words full of hope gave me the strength to get out of bed and face the new with its new chances and opportunities. Finally, I would like to thank my parents who made this possible in the first place. Their endless support and their infinite trust gave me the strength to actually believe in my goals.

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Abstract

Purpose – Much has been written about politicisation of aid and the comprehensive approach

in general. In regards to the comprehensive approach, the questions were usually more concerned with the challenges and operationality, than with the intrinsic tensions that have been rendered visible by the implementation. Therefore, a question is posed by this thesis which is one less discussed by previous observers, but significant for the knowledge of practice. The question focuses on how the comprehensive approach of the EU in Somalia reflects the politicisation of aid and how this approach affects the traditional humanitarian principles.

Findings – In light of the changing nature of security, which moved from a

state-centric perspective towards human security, scientific acceptability of how humanitarian aid should be addressed changed from a solely need-base approach towards the desire to address the long-term objectives of „development‟. The aid agencies and the European Union in Somalia followed the same evolution; from the start of the first famine in the 1990s, they had parallel political agendas. Somalia, had no operative government or functioning state apparatuses at that time and soon became re-imagined as a „failed state‟. In order to provide assistance to a so-called failed state, the EU designed a so-called comprehensive approach with the security-development nexus as the underlying assumption. However, with the onset of the „war on terror‟ and the „fight against piracy‟, the political security agenda of the EU changed drastically; it privileged security and put its military approach above all their other activities. Those political statements of terrorism and piracy became so powerful, that the aid agencies were necessarily poured in a securitized environment.

Originality / Value – This study combines and interlinks multiple approaches.

Following the lead of Foucault, this research design is a combination of a critical discourse analysis with a literature study and a genealogical approach. This study does not take conventional wisdom for granted, but gives due attention to history. Furthermore, this thesis contributes to the discussion about the comprehensive approach in Somalia and attempts to contribute to the debate on the liberal views towards external action.

Key words – Security, humanitarianism, humanitarian aid, traditional humanitarian

principles, neutrality, impartiality, independence, Somalia, politicisation, securitisation, discourse, Foucault, genealogy, power / knowledge, truth

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List of Abbreviations

AMISOM African Union Mission in Somalia

CSDP Common Security Defence Policy

ECHO The European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department

EEAS European External Action Service

ESDP European Security Defence Policy

ESS The European Security Strategy

EUSR European Special Representative (for the Horn of Africa)

EU European Union

EU NAVFOR EU Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta EUTM European Union Training Mission in Somalia FAO Food and Agriculture organisation of the UN

GDP Gross Domestic Product

HDR Human Development Report

ICRC Internal Committee for Red Cross

ICC International Criminal Court

I.R. International Relations

MSF Médecines Sans Frontières

NGO Non-governmental organisations

OSAFA Office for the Supervision of the Affairs of Foreign Agencies

TFG Transitional Federal Government

UN United Nations

UNDP United Nations Development Program

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNISOM United Nations Operation in Somalia

UNSCR United Nations Security Council Resolution

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1. Introduction

The road of humanitarianism is a road full of mercifulness and, since the 1990s, also of „checkpoints‟. Humanitarian aid gave the ordinary we the idea that humanitarian aid was a „noble thing to do‟, after all it means „saving lives‟ and „providing protection‟ for people in need. However, humanitarianism became checked by the beginning of the 1990s. It started with the United Nations Development Programme which published the first Human Development Report (HDR) in 1990. The UN argued that „this report is about people – and about how development enlarges choices. It is more than GNP growth, more than income and wealth and more than producing commodities and accumulating capital. A person‟s access to income may be one of the choices, but is not the sum total of human endeavour‟ (UNDP, 1990:1). This report proclaimed a rediscovering that people must be at the centre of development. In addition, the HDR of 1994 recorded the desire for a broader definition of security: human security. „For too long, the concept of security has been related more to nation-states than to people‟ (UNDP, 1994:22). It inspired the international stage to no longer address the tragic consequences of conflict situations, but align the root causes of human security (UNDP, 1994:iii).

This rediscovering –the shifting nature of security– led to a great checkpoint for the humanitarianists. Humanitarianism was no longer seen as a purely merciful act. First through the change of scientific acceptability and secondly through national and multi-dimensional institutions who were eager to overhaul their actions, it resulted in the emergence of a debate emerged between the followers of traditional humanitarianism and those who favored the new approach. Traditional humanitarianism is derived from the battlefields of Solferino in 1859 where Henri Dunant1 published an account of what he had witnessed, known as the Memory of Solferino, and suggested the formation of a national aid agency that would be able to provide qualified, voluntarily aid on the basis of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence to wounded combatants in a conflict situation (ICRC, 2014). This suggestion led to the institutionalisation of the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) in 1863, with the humanitarian principles at the heart of the ICRC‟s mandate (Fox, 2001:277). Oppositely, new humanitarianism is derived from this checkpoint and argues for a more „politically conscious aid‟ which is capable of estimating the impact of aid interventions on politics and assures that aid is allied to military and diplomatic tools in a coherent settlement strategy

1_{Born in Geneva, Henri Dunant witnessed a massacre between Austrian and French troops on 24 June 1859. He}

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10 (Fox, 2001:275). In this case, humanitarian aid is used as an instrument to pursue political goals. This, politicisation of aid, is a sophisticated process with various actors who accept political values.

On 13 December 2007, the EU, as a multi-dimensional governance system, signed the Lisbon Treaty which specifies the principles, foundations and ambitions of the external action of the EU. In the search for these ambitions, the Treaty requested for coherence between the distinct portfolios of EU external action and its other policies (European Commission, 2013). The external relations architecture was reshaped and allowed for the establishment of a so-called comprehensive approach.

The Horn of Africa2 and Somalia in particular were the first places where the EU implemented the comprehensive approach. This approach is a combination of humanitarian, developmental, civilian, and military policies. The key of the EU‟s approach is to „effectively combine and interlink its engagement across the various dimensions of concern and to work closely with other actors from Somalia, partner states, and international organizations as well as representatives from the private sector‟ (Ehrhart & Petretto, 2013:2). This approach reflects the EU‟s „need for a culture of co-ordination‟ (European Council, 2003).

At the heart of the comprehensive approach lies the security-development nexus. This nexus implicates the interconnectedness between security and development. This intermingling is used by academics to describe and analyse dynamics and produce knowledge. The EU uses this knowledge and to prescribe how external action should take place (Stern & Öjendal, 2010:7). This nexus creates a regime of truth that benefits the EU‟s desires.

The case of Somalia reflects a long history of colonialism and struggles of many generations of times. Especially since 1991, the Somali people have been facing an acrimonious internal struggle between warlords, clans and moderates and extremists, in which many had to flee civil war, violence and famine. For two decades, Somalia was known as the country without an operative central government or a national bank. The absence of a properly functioning governance and economy resulted in the deficiency of international validity (Anderson, 2010:321-2). These „deficiencies‟ led to the re-imagination of Somalia as a „failed state‟ in the Western Society. This authoritative knowledge frame was directly related to the implementation of a comprehensive approach, a situation that urged for the combination of

2_{According to the Strategic Framework of the EU, the Horn of Africa is defined as the countries belonging to}

the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) – Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda (European Council, 2009).

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11 military instruments with humanitarian aid in order to „get Somalia back on the road of recovery‟ (European Council, 2014). This prolonged „tragic‟ crisis called for many aid agencies to intervene. Although Somalia was still in an emergency situation, aid agencies and the EU increasingly focused on rehabilitation programmes and development assistance with capacity-building and participation of the civil society as the primary objectives.

The Somali nationalistic insurgency group Al Shabaab and the piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden east to Somalia, led to a proliferation of –military– external intervention. The missions of the „war on terror‟ and „piracy‟ became well-emphasized political statements by the Western society. However, the EU‟s rhetorical ambitions were no longer met with the real practical concerns.

Relevance

By using a case study of the EU comprehensive approach in Somalia, the aim of this thesis is to make a contribution to the debate between traditional humanitarianism which favours the humanitarian principles and the new humanitarianism which favours the more politically conscious aid. Another aim is to contribute to knowledge of practice of the integrated strategies, specifically the comprehensive approach, as a practical „umbrella‟ solution to conflict situations initiated by the new humanitarianists.

The thesis also means to contribute to the discussion of the inherent ambiguity of the liberal regime in which humanitarian aid is perceived as a „moral duty‟ and for „bettering lives of others‟, while at the same time, it is also used as an instrument to modify the way of life of those „others‟. Humanitarian aid should not be considered as inherently positive and is also part of a wider system that occupies most of the former colonial countries. It is, therefore, important to recognise the deficiencies that are embedded in the goals and actions of humanitarian aid. Humanitarian aid was and will never be completely free of the political policy of Western governments.

Consequently, this thesis aims to reveal the power effects of the policy frameworks by not starting with conventional ideas and frameworks such as the inherent fairness of humanitarian aid, the location of history as a linear process and the privileged narratives. However, it is important to give due attention to historical trajectories, discourses as well as practices thereof.

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Formulation of the problem

Previous contributions often addressed the politicisation of aid and the adherence to traditional humanitarian principles, and many observers identify the crisis in the Horn of Africa as a momentous test for the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the EU. The EU gained a security and defence dimension with the Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) in 1999. The Lisbon Treaty 2009 altered the name to CSDP and created the possibility to bring all the necessary EU assets together and to apply a „comprehensive approach‟ to EU crisis management (EEAS, 2014). The comprehensive approach brought much criticism up to the surface. The criticality of those observers pertained to the EU‟s inability to act coherently in its security missions and on their lack of „effectiveness‟. Common questions raised by those observers such as Damien Helly, Hans-Georg Ehrhart & Kerstim Petretto were for instance: „What is the comprehensive approach about?‟, „Can the EU‟s comprehensive approach work? ‟And, „what are the challenges?‟

However, at the heart of this thesis lies not the seemingly challenge of the comprehensive approach. This thesis raises a question which is one less discussed by those observers, but significant for the knowledge of practice. This thesis addresses the intrinsic tensions within the EU‟s policy frameworks that have been rendered visible by the implementation of the comprehensive approach. For instance, the EU publicly pronounced their unconditional adherence to the fundamental humanitarian principles but, by applying this approach, simultaneously created a process that might obscure the line between „political‟ and „apolitical‟ even further.

Research questions

This results into the following research questions:

- How does the comprehensive approach of the European Union in Somalia reflect the politicisation of aid?

- How does this impact the humanitarian principles of non-governmental organisations?

In order to answer these research questions, the following sub questions will be addressed:

- What is the historical background of Somalia?

- What is the role of the comprehensive approach?

- What were the main reasons for implementing a comprehensive approach in Somalia?

- How did the debate between traditional and new humanitarianism develop?

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- What is the link between the humanitarian debate and the comprehensive approach?

Research design

A case study on Somalia will be used to describe whether the comprehensive approach of the EU reflects politicisation of aid. The research method of the case study is comprised of a critical discourse analysis in combination with a literature study and a genealogical approach. The literature study as the preliminary process will be used to analyse writings on the debate between traditional and new humanitarianism and to take a stance on the liberal approach of external action in Somalia. Since the 1970s, the upswing of the discursive approach had a profound impact on the social sciences. The French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984) attached great importance to the analysis of discourse: the language system as a cultural and social phenomenon. Speeches, statements and written languages are always unique phenomena and never explainable through language systems, such as the vocabulary. Discourse creates a world by determining a framework that constructs the manners in which to think, express and experience. The discourse on a particular topic produces a kind of objective existence, generating knowledge and truth, which is sustained by people but, simultaneously, transcends them (Whisnant, 2012:6). So therefore, by analysing the discourse, the background of the speaker or writer will also be revealed. Finally, some discourses are dominant and empower specific individuals to speak the truth. It gives these individuals a certain kind of power and enables them to develop actions and examples of behaviour (Whisnant, 2012:6-7). Consequently, discourse should be perceived as productive rather than oppressive (Foucault, 1980:119).

„We must make allowances for the complex and unstable process whereby a discourse can be both an instrument and an effect of power, but also a hindrance, a stumbling point of resistance and a starting point for an opposing strategy. Discourse transmits and produces power; it reinforces it, but also undermines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible to thwart‟ (Foucault 1998: 100-1).

The genealogical approach that will be applied in this thesis is derived from Foucault‟s genealogical method, associated with the poststructuralist movement, and initially based on the work of Nietzsche. It is a way to study history. However, it does not take conventional ideas and frameworks for granted or objectively given. This approach deconstructs what is perceived as the truth. „A form of history which can account for the constitution of

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14 knowledge, discourses and domains of objects‟ (Foucault, quoted in Townley, 1993:540) Important for this thesis, is the differentiation between what is „truth‟ and „false‟ which becomes visible through mechanisms of power (Foucault, 1980:132). The truth is a system of thought and is therefore questionable, unreliable and above all subjective.

„(…) I would like to consider it from the perspective of a genealogy of technologies of power. I think we could reconstruct the function of the text, not according to the rules of formation of its concepts, but according to its objectives, the strategies that govern it, and the program of political action it proposes‟ (Foucault 2007:35, quoted in Van Houdt, 2009:118).

First research question

The first research question „How does the comprehensive approach of the European Union in Somalia reflect the politicisation of aid?‟ will be answered by a critical discourse analysis intertwined with a descriptive analysis of the EU and aid agencies‟ practices, which will reveal the contradictions or the similarities between the discourse and the practices. The discourse analysis will consist of three levels of analyses: the first part is made up from an examination of official statements and speeches, policy reports, press releases, parliamentary debates, and hearings and brochures of the EU from the between the early 1990s until March 2014. Strong focus is put on the period from 2002 onwards, an era in which the EU constantly designed strategies to ensure the effectiveness of its comprehensive approach: this discourse is called the EU external action discourse.

The second part of the discourse analysis will be an examination of reports, conferences, press releases, brochures and interviewees of humanitarian aid agencies operating in Somalia, specifically focusing on the ICRC. The purpose of this analysis is to identify whether there has been a change of attitude from the operating humanitarian aid agencies towards the donor governments.

The third part of the discourse analysis will be an examination of the EU / US newspapers, such as the Guardian, New York Times and The Times, in order to identify the key events that received international media attention. For instance, Jeffrey Gettleman from the New York Times reported regularly on Somalia. The purpose of the identification is to reveal what is reflected in the media and the manner in which it is reflected.

Because the prolonged Somali crisis has passed through so many different stages since the 1980s, the discourse will therefore be roughly examined for three specific periods: The

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15 beginning of the 1990s at the start of the civil war which created famine conditions among the southern populations of Somalia and at which time only a small number of external aid agencies, principally the ICRC, were operating inside the country; the post 9/11 era in Somalia when there were growing concerns about the Somali‟s „ungoverned space‟; the period from 2007 onwards which reflects an era of military interventions, but which was also when the Somalia issue was integrated into an overall approach – the comprehensive approach - by the EU.

Second research question

The second research question „How does the comprehensive approach impact the humanitarian principles of non-governmental organisations?‟ will be answered by focusing on the humanitarian principles of the ICRC operating in Somalia from 1991 to present. This question will, in the same way as the first research question, apply a genealogical approach by not taking policy frameworks for granted but by giving due attention to history. This question will be answered through an examination of reports, conferences and academic research concerning the impact on humanitarian principles in general. This question is intertwined with the first research question. However, the focus of this question will be more on the effects rather than the intentions. In other words, practices will be equally important to determine the process of politicisation of aid.

Considerations and controversies

A few additional remarks should be made in order to provide as much as clarification throughout this whole thesis. First of all, Mark Duffield, an academic in anthropology and political economy, attempts to explore the security-development nexus (2001), in which aid agencies and Western governments share common grounds concerning the security of Western states and the aim to improve the socio-economic tendencies as well as the aim to reform institutions of the poorest societies. In line with this reasoning, development and security have become inseparable. Nonetheless, this thesis prefers to use the concept of politicisation of aid as a reflection of a process rather than the concept of the security-development nexus. The notion of security-development leaves space for diverging, contrasting interpretations. Development assistance in the field is not identical to humanitarian aid. Aid might be used to achieve wider goals such as development or peacebuilding, which are inherently determined by political conditions. Furthermore, the content of the „nexus‟ is unclear and has resulted in divisions of conceptual definitions and ideology. However, the

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16 concepts of aid, development and security and the interconnections between those concepts will be addressed to describe and analyse how the EU and the aid agencies construct, shape, understand and practice these concepts.

Secondly, when talking about the EU and its foreign policy, an array of actors are involved, therefore the EU cannot be perceived as one entity. The focus will predominantly be on the Commission and the Council. Apart from these, the member states will be of great importance in this thesis. Furthermore, the notions humanitarian aid / assistance / emergency aid / relief are used interchangeably, though this thesis aims not to differentiate between the content of these concepts. In addition, the comprehensive approach had numerous related terms, such as „joined-up‟ government, holistic government, integrated strategy and whole of government approach. This thesis will solely apply the „comprehensive approach‟ by drawing on the terminology of the EU.

Thirdly, this thesis is concerned with social issues. It is an inherent part of the social structure in which it has been written and produced in the social action with others. This thesis is therefore is not completely objective, but will contain values and viewpoints of the author.

The outline

This master‟s thesis consists of several chapters. These are:

- Chapter 1. The introduction and background; this chapter includes the background and matters raised in it for the research.

- Chapter 2. Conceptual framework; this chapter discusses the theoretical basis that is

used and proposes a conceptual framework for this research.

- Chapter 3. The liberal approach of external action in Somalia; this chapter provides information about Somalia, the evolution of the comprehensive approach and describes the humanitarian debate from the power / knowledge perspective.

- Chapter 4. Critical Discourse Analysis; which is divided into three chapters. From the 1990s until the political statements of „the war on terror‟ and „piracy‟.

- Chapter 5. Critical Discourse Analysis; from 2001 to 2007 which marked a new era with many external interventions,

- Chapter 6. Critical Discourse Analysis; from 2007 until today. These three chapters will take a critical stance on the development of the comprehensive approach in Somalia and on how this reflects the politicisation of aid and the effects for the traditional humanitarian principles.

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2. Conceptual framework

Politicisation of aid has gained in scientific scrutiny since the end of the 1990s as a result of the practical concerns for humanitarian aid but also as a new strategy for a whole network of actors. This concept will be at the core of the conceptual framework which can be interpreted as a process comprised of many actors who are involved in defining a „truth‟. Furthermore, this chapter attempts to make some clarifications regarding other concepts, assumptions and beliefs which are of valuable interest for this thesis. The starting point of this chapter is the great humanitarian discussion: the indissoluble traditional humanitarianists were confronted with a reversed current which opposed the traditional ethical beliefs and concerns. It resulted in a humanitarian debate with diverse approaches, procedures and practices. This chapter argues that the humanitarian discussion results from new perceptions on the definition of security and the way how the Western society should challenge these perspectives perceived as threats.

The humanitarian discussion

The concept of humanitarian assistance and action can be best understood as an assembly of various agencies such as governments, multi-dimensional institutions, NGOs, private investors, individuals as well as domestic organisations and is traditionally a need-base action, „designed to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain and protect human dignity during and in the aftermath of emergencies‟ (Global Humanitarian Assistance, 2014).

For decades, the ICRC, based on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 which „regulate the conduct during armed conflicts and seeks to limit their effects‟, had a monopolistic power to ensure humanitarian protection and assistance for victims in war zones (ICRC, 2014). Their humanitarian position is particularly indicated by four main principles; humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence as proclaimed in a Vienna Conference of 1965. Until present-day, the ICRC clings to its judgement that traditional humanitarian principles should always be presented to combatant parties in order to gain access to those humans who need help the most. The first principle, humanity, is defined as the desire „to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found… to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being‟ (ICRC, 1979). The second principle, impartiality, endeavours to „relieve suffering of individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress‟. It requires the ICRC to apply equal terms to all the persons, but, at

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18 the same time, pursue proportionality of aid (Slim, 1997:349). The third principle, neutrality, is the principle which often puts the ICRC and other aid agencies in difficult positions and is defined as „in order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take any sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature‟ (ICRC, 1979). According to this principle, the aid agency must withhold from any act that might encourage escalation of the conflict. The last relevant principle, explains that the aid agency is independent „[and] must always maintain their autonomy‟ (ICRC, 1979).

During the 1990s, per contra, humanitarian aid perceived as a „noble charity‟ and as „bettering lives‟, beyond reproach and beyond question had changed to a culpable and questionable era which no longer reflected any certainty about the humanitarian action. Some scholars call it the humanitarian identity crisis, whereas aid can do „a great deal of harm as well as a great deal of good‟ (Rieff, 1999:36-7). The influential book Do No Harm of Mary Anderson (1999) fuelled the idea that humanitarian aid could aggravate civil wars, however, it could also alter the balance of power between social communities by using humanitarian aid as conscious tool of conflict management by donor-governments (Duffield, 2010:57). A field of new techniques, practices, approaches emerged in reaction to this new idea.

The advent of new humanitarianism: a debate

Within the aftermath of the Cold War, the ICRC which favours traditional humanitarianism (Fox, 2001:277) was confronted with a reverse current that envisioned aid as a conscious tool of conflict management and challenged the abiding principles of the traditionalists. A debate emerged between traditionalists and the followers of the new approach. The approach of traditional humanitarianists was based on needs of the victims. New humanitarianists, however, designed differently by adopting the right based approach which integrates deliberately human rights, developmental and peace building into the humanitarian sphere (Fox, 2001:276). Hugo Slim argued that humanitarian action should be based on rights, laws and duties, through which victims would become objects of rights and justice rather than principles who emanated from „noble charity‟ (HPG, 2001).

It became argued that there should be a close relationship between security and effectiveness of aid. The debate was formed by a constellation of new perceptions of the „globalised‟ world, in particular about the humanitarian arena illustrated in the book Do No Harm. The idea that the humanitarian sphere was confronted by new wars was well alive within the aid agencies (Duffield, 2010:57). Mary Kaldor stated that the world was confronted

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19 with „a new type of organised violence, especially in Africa and Eastern Europe‟ (Kaldor, 2006:1). New wars became indefinable; „it involves a blurring of the distinctions between, organised crime and violations of human rights‟ (Kaldor, 2006:2). She also highlighted the „criminalised economy‟ of new wars, „the fighting units finance themselves through plunder and the black-market or through external assistance‟ (Kaldor, quoted in Balabanova,

2007:28). In the context of this idea, humanitarian aid has faced new types of treats while

operating in an insecure environment and their actions could have unintended consequences by being deliberately used to finance combating parties. The idea that aid could have negative effects and, therefore, aggravate the conflict became discernible in the case of Rwandan refugee camps in Zaire in 1994-6. The refugee camps became controlled by leaders who were accused of being responsible for the genocide. The aid agencies were heavily criticised for providing aid to génocidairs (Fox, 2001:4). They were either compelled to stay and further strengthen the power of those who were allegedly responsible for the genocide, or retreat from the camps and leave the refugees in anxiety and impoverishment; a choice with divisive consequences for the humanitarian field.

Additionally, the conclusions of The Joint Evaluation of the International Response to the Conflict and Genocide in Rwanda had an impact on the evolution of the debate. The recommendations were interpreted differently by the relevant actors. As argued by the report, „the close relationship between the level of security and the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance highlights the need for coherence in the strategies adopted by the political / military and humanitarian domains‟ (Eriksson, 1996:28). Although the report pleaded for coherence between political and humanitarian spheres, it must be placed within the context of ineffective political responses to the genocide which forced the humanitarian agencies to work in situations that were untenable (Eriksson, 1996:47). Nevertheless, the UK responded by adopting the coherence agenda and incorporated their humanitarian sphere within their foreign policy objectives and approaches.

Positioning the debate: politicisation of aid

Definitions of „political‟ vary in the scholarly literature. Through the lens of Foucault, it is the process of defining a „regime of truth‟. This regime is „marked by the articulation of a particular type of discourse and a set of practices, a discourse that on the one hand constitutes these practices as a set bound together by an intelligible connection and, on the other hand legislates and can legislate on these practices in terms of true or false‟ (Foucault, quoted in Wesseling, 2013:11). Jenny Edkins‟ conceptualization offers a useful tool in this respect. She

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20 acknowledges that that the political includes, „but is not strictly confined to the doings of governments, the state apparatus, day-to-day decision-making, and technologies of governance‟ (Edkins, quoted in Wesseling, 2013:101). The political is described as a social process which constructs a constellation of concepts, meanings and social practices (Croft & Floyd, 2011:160). This perception will be useful inasmuch as it provides a framework for the study of politicisation of aid.

Fiona Fox argued in favour of traditional humanitarianism and reiterated the statement of the ICRC that „aid agencies will not taking any side in hostilities‟ (Fox, 2001:277-88). The traditionalists argue that everyone has the right to receive humanitarian aid in times of crisis in a world where liberal interventionism prevails. However, delivering aid is restricted to those countries that are able to follow the donor governments‟ ideologies on the economy and governance (Fox, 2001:288). Yet, the traditionalists urge to keep the humanitarian aid sphere free from „political‟ determinations.

Oppositely, new humanitarianism introduces new solutions to conquer past deficiencies of traditionalists. Alex de Waal argued that the Live Aid Campaign, that gained immense public sympathy and raised funds for the Ethiopian famine of 1984, contributed to the „survival of the Ethiopian government, whose army was the main reason for the famine‟ (De Waal, 1995:30). In order to overcome these deficiencies, new humanitarianism aims to eliminate the essence of the conflict by using aid for peace, security and development. It identifies apolitical or neutral humanitarian aid as morally untenable. It endeavours to break from the past and move beyond the traditional humanitarian principles that have guided aid agencies for the past century (Fox, 2001:275). The human rights NGO, African Right, firmly criticized the principle of „neutrality‟ and argued that the right position was to overtly support the genocide of the Tutsi Rwandan Front as the singular way to end this massacre (Fox, 2001:278).

Many aid agencies adopted the new approach by participating in peace-building processes by which the magnetism for new donor funding became ensured. Mark Duffield described this approach as an inherent political venture which is echoed by a general process, the so-called politicisation of aid which reflects the „shared ultimate aim of peace and stability‟ of donor governments conjointly with aid agencies and „should therefore be able to work together in a more direct and integrated way than in the past‟ (Duffield, 2010:57-8).

By some means politics will always be involved in humanitarian aid, but the politicisation of aid implicates a conscious manipulation of aid by using it as an instrument to pursue political goals. The concept of politicisation of aid is a sophisticated process, many aid

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21 agencies, individuals, organisations, political bodies and professional networks accept various political values rooted in the Western society and acting in accordance with them (Macrae & Leader, 2001:305). Politicisation is thus not primarily shaped top-down, whereby political bodies effectively control aid agencies but is rather a mutually constitutive process.

For instance, De Waal described in his study that there was a growing tendency on part of the aid agencies to call for military interventions. The rapid expansion of the aid industry created channels for the Western governments to pursue their goals. Donations to Western aid organisations gained favourable publicity and thus legitimacy for their actions for both of them. Besides, subventions through NGOs proved far less formal, open for responding according to its own discretion. It became, above all, a new way to circumvent the host bureaucracies which were often considered as ineffective (De Waal, 1995:36).

According to Duffield, the donor policy discourse was no longer pristine by the search for coherence between aid and politics (Duffield, 2010:58). Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State in the Bush Administration argued in October 2001, „NGOs are such a force multiplier for us, such an important part of our combat team‟ (quoted in Jacoby & James, 2010:S8). As a reaction to the citation, Tim Jacoby and Eric James reported that this implicates the eagerness for close links with the government, but above all, the absorption of aid by Western foreign policy objectives (Jacoby & James, 2010:S12).

Interventions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and, more recently, Iraq are considered to be examples of inseparability between humanitarian and political practices. Antonio Donini‟s study demonstrated that the Iraq crisis symbolised the peak for the collapsing line between these two facets and the subversion of traditional humanitarian principles with the emphasis on neutrality (Donini et al., 2004:192). More than fifteen years after the Kosovo intervention, the search for coherence has intensified, the level of instrumentalisation of humanitarian aid increased and the context of negotiated access changed more emphatic than ever before. Negotiated access, means that actors need to negotiate in order to reach the victims, used to be the keystone for humanitarian aid. However, as stated by the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department of the EU: „from a rights-based perspective, access to the victims of a humanitarian crisis is not an end in itself, and will therefore not be pursued at any cost. Access will be sought if it is the most effective way to contribute to the human rights situation‟ (ECHO, 1999). The interpretation of negotiated access got reshaped by distinguishing preferred receptors of aid based on their moral judgement of who is hostile or friendly to their cause.

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22 In the interests of coherence between aid and politics, major donor-governments such as the UK, US, the NATO and the EU have institutionalised this search by implementing an integrated – comprehensive – mission in conflict situations. It reflects a deliberate accumulation of all of their „policies, tools and instruments‟, all under the same command and reflecting a shared acceptance (European Commission, 2013).

The entanglement of politicisation and securitisation of aid

In 1993, Adam Roberts, a Professor of International Relations cited that: „“Humanitarian wars” is an oxymoron which may yet become reality. The recent practice of states, and of the United Nations has involved major uses of armed force in the name of humanitarianism…These humanitarian activities in situations of conflict raise many awkward questions‟ (quoted in Slim, 1996:86). This quote describes the process of securitisation of aid in conflict situations in which aid is used as a conscious tool to advance the military forces. Securitisation is directly linked to the general process of politicisation of aid and implicates a blurring line between humanitarianists and military combatants, whereas politicisation reflects a blurring line between aid and politics. The security process mirrors the integration of the humanitarian arena into the political, since aid has become an integral part of military decisions (Shannon, 2009:30).

As argued by Róisín Shannon, in a conflict situation where ongoing counter-insurgency campaigns, counter-terrorism and state-building interventions are prevalent the political security agenda will be dominant and aid is then strategically used for conflict management (Shannon, 2009:30). It is widely accepted in the literature that international militaries used aid programmes to „win hearts and minds‟ of the Afghan population for security objectives, subsequently obscuring the lines between humanitarian emergency and military actions (see Shannon, 2009; Beath et al., 2011).

Security: wideners & deepeners

Apart from the humanitarian discussion and the politicisation allied with securitisation of aid, this conceptual part will also discuss some concepts on security by making the connection clear between humanitarianism, security, the research method and the applied approach; the Paris School. These will provide an analytical framework for assessing the underlying concepts of the development from a traditional towards a comprehensive approach.

New influences in the academic arena became discernible in the nature of international security studies in the post Cold War period. Throughout the Cold War, Realism

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23 was the dominant paradigm within the IR scholarly and was particularly concerned with the explanatory power of bipolarity between the United Stated and the Soviet Union. New ideas, reaching beyond the military state-centric agenda of the traditional paradigm, emanated from the so-called wideners and deepeners. The latter relates to those who endeavoured to expand the notion of security (Buzan & Hansen, 2009:187-8). The former approaches the notion of security from a variety of conceptual and disciplinary backgrounds, ranging from IR, psychology and law to history, sociology and criminology, they realised wide-ranging insides in conceptual discussions and amplified the notion of security (Bigo & Tsoukala, 2009:1).

By the end of the 1990s, states and multi-dimensional institutions such as the EU espoused to a broader notion of security. The HDR was the first step towards a shift from an economic paradigm based on nation-states to that of „people-centred‟ frame known as human security. It is argued that this frame should be „concerned with how people live and breathe in a society, how freely they exercise their many choices, how much access they have to market and social opportunities – and whether they live in conflict or in peace‟ (UNDP, 1994: 23). The UNDP called for a convergence between the well-being of humans and the focus on conventional threats. Robert Muggah & Keith Krause (2006) identified many underlying priorities of the human security approach such as the „promoting of physical safety, human rights, and control of the instruments of violence‟. Overall, the people felt an increased instinctive need to feel „secure‟.

An agenda for peace, written by former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali in 1992, indicated a reformulation of the notion of security and emphasised that security threats no longer require armies, but policies for minimising unauthorised migrants and refugees, terrorism, the spread of pandemics and the flows of anaesthetics (Macrae & Leader, 2001:292). As a result, new perceptions on the notion of security have changed both the subjects on the security agenda and the agencies who could confiscate it (Buzan & Hansen, 2009:188).

Critical approach: The Paris School

Three critical security studies gained prestige in Europe en are concerned with the significance of security itself. However, one critical study will be of interest for this thesis; namely the Paris School. This school of thought is primarily a sociological theory applied to the concept of security (c.a.s.e., 2006:450). It accepts the process of securitisation, which is the issue involved that is securitized, and the field constituted out of this process. In this respect, public and private actors, representing a whole network of professionals, are

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24 competing to achieve a monopoly on reshaping the concept of security. The definition of security used by this school has been concerned with practices, audiences and historical as well as social contexts (c.a.s.e., 2006:457). Didier Bigo, whose work is an „extension of Foucault‟s work‟, and who is a prominent promoter of the Paris School, called for giving due attention to the security agencies who are practicing the constructed knowledge in everyday life (Croft & Floyd, 2011:166; Bigo, 2001:1). According to Bigo, „security is in no sense a reflection of an increase of threats in the contemporary epoch – it is a lowering of the level of acceptability of the other; it is an attempt at insecuritisation of daily life by the security professionals and an increase in the strengths of police potential for action‟ (Bigo quoted in Croft & Floyd, 2011:159). What Bigo suggests here is that security is socially constructed by professional networks and that security practices serve as a technique to govern actions. In this way of thought, security is „seen as political in at least three ways: it sustains security policies; it is an instrument of competition between political opponents; and finally, security framing “upholds particular concepts of the political, i.e. of what political community is about‟ (Croft & Floyd, 2011:1960-1). This citation specifies the junction between politics and security. The focus of the Paris School on the effects of every-day life rather than the intentions and Foucault‟s terminology of relational that is concerned with the effects of power is in direct line with how the Paris School is applying the Foucault‟s line of reasoning.

Therefore, by using this approach, the work of Foucault on discourse and power / knowledge nexus serves well in order to frame the context of the debate between traditional and new humanitarianism. Foucault argued that power is relational; it becomes visible in relations through mechanisms of power. Power can therefore never be the individual or the institution per se. The notion of power is entrenched in discourse and should be unpacked to reveal the discursive frames that make the invisible visible by shedding light on the threat images which reveal a „regime of truth‟ that is considered to be beneficial (Townley, 1993:520). The power / knowledge perspective in the humanitarian field will be discussed in the next chapter. Subsequently, the critical discourse analysis will be set out in chapter four, five and six.

Conclusion

This conceptual framework explored the conceptual relationship and tensions between traditional and new humanitarianism, the concept of the politicisation of aid and security in general. The differentiation between the need base and right base approach has its grounds in the actual claim for justification and legitimization as well as for the victims as claimants.

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25 Traditionalists claim the humanitarian principles as their code of conduct. The new humanitarianists, however, justify and legitimise their actions based on rights, duties and law. In general, it became more argued that there should be a close relationship between security and the effectiveness of aid.

Although politicisation of aid will be limited in its analytical scope, the apparent suggestion of a one way direction whereby the political arena deliberately uses humanitarian aid as a tool for crisis management is a misconception of the whole process. Following the critical scholarship and Foucault, it becomes clear that political is the process of defining a „regime of truth‟ which will be explained in the following chapter. Politicisation of aid, therefore, reflects a mutually constitutive process in which many actors are involved and are committed to a set of values embedded in specific politics.

3. Liberal approach of external action in Somalia

The conceptual framework set out the main political concepts and the interrelation between these concepts that served to clarify conceptual discussion. This chapter will discuss how these concepts and the comprehensive approach are applied to Somalia. At the heart of this chapter the question is answered of what constructed the truth in the case of Somalia, in the context of the comprehensive approach and for the humanitarian debate.

This chapter can be roughly divided into four segments: the case of Somalia and the authoritative knowledge frames constructed around Somalia, the evolution of the comprehensive approach of the EU in Somalia, the context of the humanitarian debate and the conclusion. The fourth segment draws on the terminology of Foucault and its power-knowledge perspective in order to understand the context of the debate.

This chapter accounts for the conceptual deepening and insights in order to make the thesis more comprehensible in general. It argues that the truth can be understood as a temporary construction; a reflection of its time with only a temporary effect.

Somalia

Somalia is located in the Horn of Africa, bordering Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. It has a coastline on the Gulf of Aden in the north and on the Indian Ocean in the east. Approximately 1.5 to 3 million people are residing in the capital city, Mogadishu, although there is no official population figure. Since the early stages of Somalia, the Islam is the foremost and almost unrivalled religion, which is of great importance to understand the country (Furlow, 2013:14).

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26 Reaching all the way back to the severe droughts in the mid-1970s and the Ogaden War of 1977-78 between Ethiopia and Somalia, many people have been displaced during this prolonged crisis (Menkhaus, 2010:S322). The UNHCR estimated in 2013 that about 1.1 million people are internally displaced from a total estimation of 10.2 million people (UNHCR, 2013).3 Less than 25 percent of Somali children have access to primary education, significant lower is the secondary school enrolment (UNESCO, 2014). Especially after the collapse of the Siyad Barre regime (1969-91), the country slid down into a civil conflict and became known as a „failed state‟ as a consequence of the dramatic gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and human development outcomes as one of the lowest in the world (World Bank, 2014).

Somalia - Politics & Economy

Although the history of Somalia goes back for centuries, in order to understand the evolution of the narrative „failed state‟ the starting point of this thesis will be the nineteenth century, because it all begins with colonialism. Great European powers had an interest in Somalia, in particular for its strategic location along the Gulf of Aden and the opening of the Suez Canal. By 1884, Great Britain marked out the boundaries of British Somaliland in the north, currently known as Somaliland, and created the possibility for Italy to extend its influence in the south. Somalis were connected through clans and had no operative central government (Furlow, 2013:19). The predominant former colonial powers differed significantly in their exercise of power. Variations in language, legal system, politics, economy and ideals in colonial governance contributed to dissimilarities and eventually to the disunity of the whole Somali society (Besteman, 1996:120).

Most of the academic theorists writing about Somalia, such as Ioan Lewis (1994) and Ken Menkhaus (2010) characterise the influence of the clan-based system on Somalia. The history, present and the future politics of Somalia are explainable through the formation of several clans. A clan is based on agnation and ancestry determines from which clan someone originates. This thesis follows the critique of Furlow and argues that clans are not fixed in time, but instead fluid and re-constructed through socio-economic conversions. This argument is supported by Besteman (1996) who criticises the assumption that clan-based explanation of warfare is the most indisputable, but rather oversimplifies the construction of the society.

3_{The total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of}

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27 Likewise the clan-system, nationalism tied to Islamic status, race, class and language are also central elements in the Somali society (Furlow, 2013:42).

Somalia gained independence in 1960 which brought together Italian Somaliland with British Somaliland, being completely contrasting regions. In 1969, Siyad Barre came to power. His regime acquired economic and military assistance from the United States and accepted extensive influxes of foreign aid (Besteman, 1996:126; Menkhaus, 2010:S322; Furlow, 2013:130). The purported dictator recruited large numbers of refugees into his military, mutating the refugee camps into training sites and the international aid into logistical support (Menkhaus, 2010:S322). The US was well aware of this situation. Nonetheless, it refrained from critical conversations about the breaches of humanitarian dignity, because it was willing to reward the government of Somalia for disbanding with the greatest enemy of the US: the Soviet Union (Menkhaus, 2010:S322; Furlow, 2013:130).

By the late 1980‟s, Siyad Barre was deprived of authority as a result of the military losses in the Ogaden War against Ethiopia and the continual clan resistance against his regime (Furlow, 2013:131-2). The US no longer thoroughly supported the regime; the solidarity shifted. Armed militias took over and it was the start of an era that received the mark „failed state‟, invoked by many reporters, politicians, academics and the media. Especially during 1991 – 1992, the erupting violence directed at civilians was precisely connected to the imagination of the failed state (Menkhaus, 2010:S323). UK Foreign Secretary Hague explicitly mentioned these words during his first visit to Mogadishu in 2012 (BBC, 2012). The persistent situation caused massive displacement and famine conditions, particularly among people in southern Somalia (Menkhaus, 2010:S323). The notion of failed state was also build on the assumption that the state would be a threat to international peace and security (Ehrhart & Petretto, 2013:1). These perceptions often refer to the piracy threats as an organised crime, identified by the EU as a result of the instability and conflict in Somalia (EU NAVFOR Somalia, 2012). Above all, it refers to the Islamist group Al Shabaab which is portrayed as having close links to Al-Qaeda (Ehrhart & Petretto, 2013:1-2). Whilst this reflects a certainty that Al Shabaab is indeed linked to Al-Qaeda by sharing the same ideals, this thesis stresses some nuance in this theorem.

Before the era of the Siyad Barre regime, the Islamists were focused on promoting Islamic culture on the basis of non-violence. The regime, however, oppressed any opposition group regardless of their political or religious premises, resulting in the exile of Islamists from Somalia to neighbouring countries. Some of the Islamists stay true to the more peaceful ideals but some stepped away to ideals of Salafist groups (Furlow, 2013:86). Important to note is

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28 that Islamists in Somalia can be divided in several groups, although some have radicalised, not all the Islamist groups are pursuing a violent agenda (Furlow, 2013:88). Perceiving the Islamists groups as a uniform entity would be misleading. What they have in common is the interconnection with Somalia and the endeavour for a nationalistic state (Furlow, 2013:95). Throughout history, Islamism has been a form of political resistance against the dominant political power and is not purely linked to Al-Qaeda; it reflects a more nationalistic struggle.

Somalia - Liberal interventionism

From 1991 onwards, Somalia faced even more foreign interventions from a wide-range of international organisations, states and non-governmental organisations. Ranging from the „Operation Restore Hope‟ under the US command, the UN Operation in Somalia (UNISOM) with long-term objectives to the EU Training Mission (EUTM) training Somali Security Forces. The EU extended its presence by a maritime operation, EU NAVFOR Somalia, with the aim to prevent piracy attacks (Oksamytna, 2011:101). A new EU mission, EUCAP NESTOR, contributed to the regional maritime capacity in the Horn of Africa by fortifying those countries‟ capability to fight piracy (EEAS, 2014). Furthermore, The African Union, AMISOM, has been providing peacekeepers to Somalia with the primary goal being the reduction of the threat posed by Al Shabaab (Ehrhart & Petretto, 2013:4).

Only a small number of non-governmental organisations were represented in Somalia before 1991, such as the ICRC and a handful other aid agencies. The amount of NGOs exploded as a result of the media who pleaded for humanitarian aid. The New York Times reported, „cloaked in such death and desperation that a sudden and sizable infusion of well-organised assistance seemed the only solution against mass starvation‟ (Perlez, 1992). James Nachtwey published many photos in the media, such as the famous picture of a Somali mother who carried her dead child wrapped in a white blanket according to Somali tradition (World Press Archive, 2014). The Western world gave a carte blanche to humanitarian agencies to provide relief to „the hell‟.

A Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was formed in 2004, with a mandate from the Western world to prepare grounds for a federal Somalia and draft a new institution (Oksamytna, 2011:100). It was a narrowly formed coalition, internally divided and its legitimacy was highly questionable because they were famous for fraud and corruption. Nevertheless, „as long as they stayed within the framework of the envisaged peace process, they were the accepted partners of the international community‟ (Ehrhart & Petretto, 2013:10). It marked a period that became characterised as a downturn for Somalia. Early

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29 2006, it led to the outbreak of the war in Mogadishu between Islamist militias and the TFG militias backed by the US, the Ethiopian military occupation of Mogadishu in 2007 and eventually the AMISOM peacekeepers.

It was also the time when the „war on terror‟ became a notorious notion in Somalia. There were great concerns about growing terrorist attacks and the idea that the international peace and security could be threatened due to the situation in Somalia (Menkhaus, 2010:S331). The deluded lens of counterterrorism generated a renewed interest to intervene and gave urge to promote state reconstruction (Duffield, 2005:1).

Although many ambitions were not materialised, the media published in more optimistic news in 2012. A new president called Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was elected on 10 September 2012. Some restrained optimism became visible, also from the political spectrum. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared, „there is still a long way to go and many challenges to confront, but we have seen a new foundation for that better future being laid.‟ In this speech, Clinton declared that the US officially recognised a government of Somalia for the first time since 1991 (Watkins, 2013) apparently leaving aside the full support for the TFG, which was recognised as the official representative of the Somalia State a few years earlier. In September 2013, a conference in Brussels ratified a three-year plan to support Somalia with 1.8 billion euros. Led by the EU, a New Deal framework was created with a focus on peace and state-building.

Somalia - Imagined as a ‘failed state’

There is limited academic literature on the history of Somalia, especially on the period before and during the colonial era. Nevertheless, the country is often considered as a „failed state‟ in the media and in the academic literature. Journalists, politicians and scholars, such as Ken Menkhaus, often use the term to describe that the state failed in providing basic conditions for its population and lacks the responsibility to do so. However, there is no consensus among scholars and journalist about the exact definition. This authoritative knowledge frame portrayed as an intelligible narrative carries a negative connotation. Failed means unsuccessful or that something is performing ineffectively. The question that rises is, „what is meant by ineffectively or inadequately?‟ The failed state index, generated by the Washington D.C.-based „Fund for Peace‟, utilises twelve indicators to construe the level of failure, such as demographic pressure, internally displaced people and violence seeking groups (Statesindex, 2013). Somalia triumphs and occupies the first place in a list of 178 countries. This index mirrors a broader process; the notion of human security placed the idea of „how life should

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30 be‟ on the international political agenda. However, it is the author‟s opinion that this index disregards the differences between the regions in maintaining stability and security due to dissimilarities in historical trajectories. It uses narrowly defined indicators in which nuances are left out. For instance, the autonomous region Somaliland was relatively isolated from other regions in its development but the failed state index makes no distinction between the regions. Ostensibly, the notion of „failed states‟ bolsters the imagination of Western societies that Somalia indeed failed in its fundamental aspects and is, therefore, constructed as a „problem‟.

Comprehensive approach

The narrative of Somalia as a failed state was directly related to the implementation of a comprehensive approach. The European Security Strategy (ESS) of 2003 argued that failed states need „military instruments to restore order and humanitarian means to tackle the immediate crisis.‟ It further argued that, „EU intervention could help to deal with regional conflicts and to put failed states back on their feed‟ (European Union, 2003). Here, the ESS expressed its desire for an approach in so-called failed states that would include both civilian and military means. The terminology of a comprehensive approach was first used in the Civil-Military Co-ordination report of the Council in 2003 and marked the start of the „comprehensiveness‟ and search for coherence between the various instruments as part of the EU‟s external action discourse.

The many definitions that are being used by institutions and states include at least the following features: „the approach is horizontal, including both civilian and military parties and, where possible, allies with international organisations and local nationals; and vertical, taking into account the different stages in the situation from the initial war fighting phase to reconstruction‟ (House of Commons, quoted in Drent, 2011:4). In general, the comprehensiveness of security indicates a fundamental interconnection between security and development (Drent, 2011:4). Within the EU debate, the concept should be understood as „a set of objectives developed by and agreed to by all relevant EU institutions after which it has policies, tools, and activities to implement these objectives‟ applied towards a country or region (Woollard, n.d.1). The Lisbon Treaty specifies the purpose of the EU‟s comprehensive approach, which is „the promotion of peace, its values and the well-being of its people‟ (art.3.1), and „preserve peace, prevent conflicts and strengthen international security‟ (art.21.2(c)).

The European Union : eager to politicise aid in Somalia? : a critical discourse analysis of the comprehensive approach of the EU in Somalia since the beginning of the civil war in 1990