Bibliographic note Ertürk, Saadet (2019). The Rise of China and its Implications for Western Development Cooperation Policy. Master Thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies, Supervisors: Dr. Michal Parízek & Dr. Sebastian Ziaja. Abstract Recently new donors are beginning to challenge the international aid architecture of traditional Western donors by providing huge amounts of foreign aid to Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries without political conditions attached, thereby undermining the bargaining power and influence of OECD DAC donors. Especially Chinas new role as aid donor causes a lot of scepticism among researchers. This master thesis investigates whether OECD DAC donors changed their aid allocation policies and patterns in response to rising Chinese foreign aid activities in SSA countries. So far, the literature investigating the relationship between foreign aid provided by traditional Western donors and aid by the Chinese government has been limited mostly due to the lack of accurate data on Chinese foreign aid. This study makes use of a new dataset on Chinese foreign aid flows in order to examine the response of OECD DAC donors to Chinese foreign aid activities in SSA between 2000 to 2014. It finds that contrary to current assumptions OECD DAC donors do...

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Yes / ¿Part 1: The congestion of humanitarian space¿, assesses what affect the rapid proliferation of the international aid community¿s presence in Sri Lanka has had on local level relationships and emergency response capacities. It contends that the burgeoning presence of aid agencies resulted in humanitarian assistance becoming a hotly contested and competitive activity. It goes on to identify the possible factors that have contributed to the rapid congestion of this space in suggesting an explanation of why the humanitarian communities¿ normative standards appear to have failed.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how international development organizations are working to communicate campaigns and photographs from one cultural context to another. Additionally, will challenges in making campaigns which are both ethical appropriate and engaging be highlighted and discussed in relation to today’s impatient media landscape where globalization and development are dominated by economic interests. This research follows the international development cooperation We Effect and explore their whole media production process while making external communication from the work in Kenya to the target group in Sweden. The researcher has done interviews with decision makers at the head office in Stockholm, regional communicators in Nairobi, independent photographers and farmers in the fields of Kenya, visible in We Effect’s campaigns in Sweden. Additionally, ethnographical observations and diary notes contribute to answer the question how international organizations are planning, creating and distributing ethical and engaging media about development organizations long-term development work. In theoretical discussions, anchored in concepts about global culture, cosmopolitanism and how to mediate distant others, together with previous literature by Lilie Chouliaraki, Roger Silverstone and Stuart Hall, will this research state that there are several challenges in communicating messages from one cultural context to another. The distance, both geographical and mental, makes it challenging for the media producers and spectators to understand the same message; this research states that both the media producers and spectators’ interpretations of photographs and messages are dependent on their cultural background.

This paper is characterized as a critical case study aimed to scrutinize the continuous situation regarding Syrian refugees in Lebanon from an ethical theoretical approach. Mainly, two specific theoretical models regarding ethics in migration and a theoretical standpoint regarding ethics in migration are presented as the theoretical and scientific framework. Arash Abizadeh’s two models, known as the state sovereignty model and the liberal model are implemented in order to understand and to pinpoint the course of the Lebanese situation. Additional, Joseph Carens’ theory concerning ethics in migration is implemented parallel with the two models, to enhance the analytical tools and to introduce a normative perspective. Regarding the empirical result, three distinct perspectives are utilized in order to cope with the situation on a fair and nuanced ground. The Syrian refugees themselves, international involvement and the Lebanese government are presented as the empirical pathways throughout this paper. Concluding results of this paper tends to pinpoint uncertainty and unawareness to be the key factors in explaining the actions of the Lebanese government. Based on the theoretical framework presented in this paper, there is an established tendency to conclude that Syrian refugees has not been treated accordingly to ethical concepts. Because of the distinct ideal differences between the two theoretical models, the results tend to be more evident. The Lebanese government has initially tended to affiliate itself with the liberal model. However, as time has progressed the government has acted accordingly to the state sovereignty model, with not acknowledging ethical limitations in its decision making. While remaining in the grasp of the state sovereignty model, the government and the civil society has begun lighting sparks in actions that have been taken. These actions tend to recognize ethical limitations, thus moving Lebanon towards the liberal model, but far from being completely implemented. In summary, Lebanon’s situation has brought it to a tendency to conduct temporary policies in an increasingly permanent situation.

This thesis explores how three international volunteers taught in rural Indigenous communities in Ecuador. It positions this exploration in the complexities and dilemmas of International aid education (IAE) projects and cross-cultural volunteer teaching. The study uses literature on anti-colonial theories, Indigenous knowledges and culturally relevant teaching (CRT) as a conceptual framework to understanding IVTs perceptions of and approaches towards cross-cultural teaching and its relationship with Indigenous students’ lived experiences. Onsite observations and interviews with international volunteer teachers’ (IVTs) and discussions with local teachers and volunteer program director are used in a cross-comparative analysis, which examines how their teaching was sensitive to and reflective of these Indigenous peoples’ ways of knowing and learning. The findings show that the three IVTs varied greatly in their understanding and enactment of CRT. The thesis concludes by exploring the implications of IAE and sets out recommendations for creating more culturally relevant education for Indigenous students.

This thesis explores how three international volunteers taught in rural Indigenous communities in Ecuador. It positions this exploration in the complexities and dilemmas of International aid education (IAE) projects and cross-cultural volunteer teaching. The study uses literature on anti-colonial theories, Indigenous knowledges and culturally relevant teaching (CRT) as a conceptual framework to understanding IVTs perceptions of and approaches towards cross-cultural teaching and its relationship with Indigenous students’ lived experiences. Onsite observations and interviews with international volunteer teachers’ (IVTs) and discussions with local teachers and volunteer program director are used in a cross-comparative analysis, which examines how their teaching was sensitive to and reflective of these Indigenous peoples’ ways of knowing and learning. The findings show that the three IVTs varied greatly in their understanding and enactment of CRT. The thesis concludes by exploring the implications of IAE and sets out recommendations for creating more culturally relevant education for Indigenous students.

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A new form of foreign travel called “voluntourism” has emerged in Sweden. In advertisements that invite to “make a difference”, travel agencies promote short- term aid opportunities at for example orphanages or schools in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. International volunteer work is nothing new. Rather, the volunteer agencies have entered an old and established organizational field. Using theories of new institutionalism and the analytical phrase “the story about”, this thesis investigates the way international aid work originated and evolved, and how commercial volunteer agencies entered the field. The thesis is partly based on historical data from organizational reports, biographies of aid work icons, and interviews with volunteers active during the 1960s and 1970s. Additionally, it makes use of contemporary data from interviews with representatives from volunteer travel agencies and volunteers. It also includes an analysis of how the travel agencies present their business operations on their websites. The thesis concludes that travel agencies apply the common perception of international aid work’s characteristics when marketing volunteer travels. This common perception can be traced through the evolution of international aid work. Travel agencies attract volunteers by offering access to this exclusive field. The volunteers are well-educated young women from middle class families. They are looking for experiences from international aid work, perspective on their own lives, and first-hand knowledge of local and traditional societies in poor countries. Nevertheless, due to the esteem in which the organizational field is viewed, a brief period spent as an aid worker is considered a desirable qualification for a job applicant. I interpret volunteer travel as a “grand tour”.

Due to an increased humanitarian caseload the UN has called for the international community to work differently from delivering aid to ending needs, partly by enhancing the engagement between humanitarian and development actors. The thesis aims to describe and analyse the dynamics between humanitarian and development aid and by so doing provide an empirical contribution to the larger discussion on how to streamline international assistance by addressing the temporal, institutional and funding gaps between the two types of assistance. This is a qualitative comparative study based on nine interviews with development and humanitarian practitioners from five different organisations providing both types of assistance. Participants of the study were positive to the idea of collaboration across the sectors but that in order to accomplish this the international community, donors and each individual organisation need to overcome great institutional and financial constraints leading to the conclusion that international assistance will not be streamlined successfully until the institutional and funding gaps are properly addressed.