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Security and Development

The move towards a greater awareness of the need for security to encompass human development and human security needs is one of the concerns of the Pax Christi Movement. There are a number of ways in which military and development policies, goals and practices interact at the current time, which are of interest and concern to the development community.

The overarching concern is that a paradigm shift is taking place through which a) development policy is increasingly being integrated and subordinated to security concerns, a military logic and short-term political and military strategies and, b) military forces assume a much greater role in peacekeeping, humanitarian aid and development activities. Part of the concern regarding the potential paradigm shift is that its military issues will lead the international agenda to the detriment of development work.