Securitisation and the ‘Weak States’ Concept: A Mudimbean Analysis

This chapter provides a Mudimbean analysis of the origins and functions of the ‘weak states’ concept and its implications for comprehending the African continent and the Global South more broadly. It traces securitisation theory to the work and thought of Valentin Yves Mudimbe, highlighting the ways in which colonial discourses about the non-European Other performed the strategic function of justifying external intervention in the Global South through characterisations of the non-European Other as lacking order. The ‘weak states’ concept is revealed to be a conceptual technology that is relied upon to justify various forms of intervention, including development practices, and is primarily dependent on flawed deficit framings of intervened societies. The chapter highlights the importance of reading contemporary development and security discourses through the lens of Mudimbe to highlight the ways in which they are underpinned by fictitious renderings of the Global South. Revisiting Mudimbe provides the opportunity to rethink development and security practices and the concepts that underpin them, including their underlying discursive assumptions.