Frontier security in North East Africa: conflict and colonial development on the margins, 1930-1960

Abstract

This article explores colonial development policy on the margins of British East Africa. It argues that much like current development practice in the region, increased colonial interventionism in the years after 1940, was motivated by security interests as well as environmental and economic considerations. Rural interventions were used as a mechanism to ‘reign in’ what were perceived to be subversive populations, as well as contain potential security threats. The article therefore throws new light on the nature of colonial rural development, as well as the connections between past and present development practice.