Abstract
The objective of this thesis is to investigate the security-development nexus' impact on donor policies towards fragile and post-conflict states in the South. The thesis focuses on the post-Cold War international security and development architecture, and on security sector reform (SSR) in particular. It applies a comprehensive discourse theoretical framework to investigate discursive change, the relation between discourse and materiality, and the relation between SSR's normative framework and its implementation in practice. The Liberian SSR process functions as the focal point of the analysis.