Abstract

This chapter explores discourses of ‘security’ and ‘development’, tracing how these have developed and are interrelated. It first examines various understandings of ‘security’ and now these constructions have changed over time. Contemporary security discourses illustrate a reorientation from the state to a focus on the individual: ‘human security’. Human security is also concerned with the interrelationships between material and physical security, and a shift in paradigm from war-based security to law-based security. The chapter then critically examines how this focus on the well-being of individuals within their communities links conceptually with discourses of development. In addition, it explores developments in policy thinking, looking at the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Reports from the mid-1990s and how human security is conceptualized in these reports. The chapter then explores how discourses of ‘vulnerability’ relate to discourses of security and development, followed by the examination of a case study of Syrian refugee women in Lebanon. This case study is used to explore the interrelationships between gender, migration and security. The chapter concludes by proposing some methodological ideas based on a reflection on the literature and insights from the case study.