ABSTRACT
Fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) are characterised by the proliferation of non-state armed groups that are not only causing insecurity, but have also taken over state security functions. Nevertheless, numerous academics and practitioners alike continue to frame security governance in FCAS through stringent analytical categories that are far removed from the blurriness of security actors in these settings. Based on empirical evidence from the informal settlements of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, this chapter challenges traditional understandings of security governance by focusing on security blurs, and specifically on the blurring between providers of security and providers of insecurity. More precisely, it is argued that whether a group is a source of security or a source of insecurity for the community in which they are nested depends primarily on the constantly shifting interests of their external sponsors.
