The Security–Development Nexus in Action: EU Discourses of Legitimation in the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa

The ongoing decline in global development funding is particularly concerning in regions like the Sahel, where limited state capacity and political will hinder the implementation of humanitarian and development policies. The European Union, a major donor, has channelled aid through instruments such as the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTFA), whose blending of development and security goals has drawn significant criticism. This thesis investigates how the European Commission justifies a securitised development agenda in the Sahel within the EUTFA framework. Grounded in securitisation theory—drawing from both the Copenhagen School’s focus on speech acts and the Paris School’s emphasis on technocratic routinisation—this research applies discourse analysis to Commission reports from 2015 to 2024. It mobilises van Leeuwen’s framework of discursive legitimation to identify how the Commission deploys moral, rational, mythopoetic, and authority-based strategies to justify the EUTFA’s security-driven agenda. The findings demonstrate that these discursive strategies serve not merely to defend policy decisions but to institutionalise and depoliticise security logics within EU development discourse. By framing security-oriented interventions as humanitarian imperatives, rational necessities, or natural historical responsibilities, the Commission constructs securitisation as both legitimate and inevitable. Alternative framings and voices—particularly from Sahelian actors—are marginalised, reinforcing asymmetrical power relations and obscuring the political nature of EU intervention. This thesis contributes to the literature by showing that discursive legitimation is a generative mechanism of securitisation, not just a rhetorical supplement. It reveals how legitimising discourse embeds security rationales within development practice, reshaping the EU’s role from partner to protector. This insight opens space for rethinking how development can be co-constructed in more inclusive and politically conscious ways.