Trading with Security: Trade Liberalisation and Conflict

The aim of this chapter is to provide a more nuance understanding of the impact of liberal peace policies on weak and fragile states in the developing world. By focusing on the effects of trade liberalisation and its impacts on security we go to the heart of the contemporary development–security nexus, and explode the myth that current practices in trade liberalisation, symbolised by the Washington consensus, hold the key to peace and development. For the most part the focus here is on the LDCs, as they are most in need of both sustainable development and security. As a group they have the highest statistical risk of conflict (UNCTAD, 2004a; Collier et al., 2003). It is in these countries that trade policies need to be sensitised to the particular conditions of vulnerability and weakness if trade is to enhance, rather than undermine, security for all.