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Aid organizations profess universalist objectives, such as humanitarian principles and human rights, whilst operating in areas in which these objectives cannot be fulfilled. How do they deal with the disparity between the claims they make and what actually happens? How are parts of the story covered up, and what do the stated objectives achieve? This article argues that denial -at a personal, organizational and institutional level -is crucial for sustaining assistance, and is facilitated by the language of rights and principles. Drawing on research from southern Sudan, it explores how aid organizations construct an official version of events that fabricates clarity whilst maintaining a degree of tactical confusion. This establishes a political morality, a seemingly ethical position that has political and psychological returns.

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Northern donor policies relating to building a common future and building peaceful states and societies go to the heart of national and international security agendas. This article critiques the concept of commonality between donors and recipients and within recipient countries. It argues that the policies are problematic from the perspective of security theorising, both in their mooted 'commonality' and in terms of the political intervention that they imply. Historically security has been competitive and founded on compromise rather than commonality, and the internal legitimacy of states has been contested domestically, rather than 'built' from outside. Using the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the article argues that the ahistorical assumptions of these policies and the activities they license have entrenched specific forms of insecurity. There have been some returns to the donors and implementing partners but also some costs, which had not been calculated, as lessons have not been drawn from past experiences.