The security-development nexus and its local articulation in Kenya : A field study in the rural village of Baragoi

Sammanfattning: The research is a field case study deployed in Samburu County, Kenya in the villages of Baragoi. The objective is to enrich the debate about peacebuilding and in particular about the security-development nexus, its articulations and actors at local level. The theorization of the security-development nexus is part of the debate regarding the way of implementing effectively peacebuilding policies (Nilsson and Taylor, 2016). The academic debate has mainly related and investigated the nexus at its international and national sphere. Moreover, when it comes to local level, only few field studies have brought up an in depth analysis of its local articulation and local actors. Therefore, this study aims at providing new evidences in relation to three main topics; first to enrich the knowledge of how development and security are conceived at local level; then, the research intends to understand if there are actors other than the national government, able to deploy security and development programs; and finally, study how their relationship is perceived at grassroots level. By understanding firstly how development and security are conceived on the ground, observation and interviews are carried out in order to understand the perception of the security-development nexus and the actors identified as influencing security and development in Baragoi, Kenya. The findings show a definition closely related to human development and human security and especially an overlapping with security and peace. The humanized definition of security and development allows more actors to be involved and therefore several non-state actors have been identified as legitimate providers of development and security in Baragoi where state presence is minimum. Moreover, their perception of the nexus shows an interdependence where both security and development are stressing issues that influence each other, however it is also possible to identify a one-way relationship where security is perceived as vital is Baragoi and by ensuring security, development will come automatically.