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...

The main topic of this thesis is the use of development cooperation as an instrument of foreign policy of the People's Republic of China (China) and the European Union (EU) in Africa. The aim of this diploma thesis was to find out whether the development cooperation policy of China, respectively the EU with African countries, is motivated rather by pragmatic or normative interests. In order to answer this research question, a qualitative content analysis was applied, in which the documents of these two actors were examined. The main theoretical concept of this diploma thesis is the concept of normative power, which served as an indicator of normative interests. In the case of the EU, the hypothesis that the EU would primarily act as a normative power in development cooperation, i.e. that it would be interested in disseminating its norms in the international system, has not been confirmed. The results of the content analysis reveal that pragmatic interests prevail in the development cooperation between the EU and African countries. In the case of China's involvement in development cooperation, the results of the analysis reveal that the main motivations within this policy are mainly normative interests, i.e. the interests of disseminating its norms in the international politics.

This study investigates Swedish aid and its focus on democracy and human rights. It analyses the space given to these normative objectives in relation to pragmatic considerations like strategic interests and institutional incentives. It does so by reviewing official documents and interviewing aid actors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), to outline what objectives and incentives are guiding in Swedish aid. It also analyses how these factors affect critical decisions on whether aid should be suspended or not, to see how much normative objectives matter in such contexts. By doing so, this study contributes to the literature on democracy aid and aid suspension, as well as to research on Sweden as a donor country. Previous research has shown that normative considerations are often subordinated to strategic interests in foreign aid because of the complexity of many conflicting interests. In addition, decisions guided by strategic interests often include institutional incentives as well. This study finds that the policy frameworks for Swedish aid are integrated in the work of MFA and Sida. Both normative and pragmatic considerations, mainly institutional incentives, are referred to both in the documents and by the aid actors. In contrast to much other literature however, normative principles seem to dominate in Swedish aid. There is great emphasis on the importance of poverty reduction and promotion of democracy and human rights, even though the whole picture with donor interests also has to be taken into account.

This thesis explores South Korea’s role within international development cooperation through a role theoretical analysis of the country’s development cooperation policies. The purpose of this paper is to shed a light on the possibilities and benefits of applying role theory within the field of international development cooperation, while focusing on South Korea, as a case of an emerging and quickly advancing donor. In order to reveal national role conceptions, as well as the alter’s role prescriptions, the paper puts forward a qualitative content analysis, looking at documents issued by South Korea and the OECD that concern its development cooperation policies. Hereby, it becomes evident that South Korea’s role is highly influenced by its own development experience and recent transformation from recipient into donor state. The experience the country has gained builds the foundation for its own perception as a donor, as well as for the expectations of other OECD Member countries and is, thus, translated into South Korea’s development cooperation policies.

Countries that are committed to official development assistance are also interested in how to increase aid effectiveness. One important measure to do so has been the introduction of the triple nexus approach. The triple nexus refers to the cooperation in the fields of humanitarian, development, and peace and how conscious collaboration between the different actors may lead to better outcomes. For this purpose special guidelines were adopted by DAC in 2019, in which the triple nexus approach was recommended to be applied in all humanitarian-, development- and peace work. These guidelines apply to many donor organizations and this thesis aims to understand the prevailing triple nexus environment within in particular the Finnish NGOs. The hope is to contribute to the research of the triple nexus approach by gaining knowledge of its organisational implementation. Abductive logic of inquiry is applied to this research and qualitative methods are chosen to explore the research questions. Semi-structured interviews are carried out to form an understanding of the triple nexus environment in Finland. The empirical data collected for this thesis hopes to bring new knowledge to the parties involved in the triple nexus work. The topic is relevant for development studies and has a strong linkage to the current situation of development cooperation. The scope of this study does not make it possible to draw generalization from the findings and therefore the results of this research are only valid for the specific Finnish context. Collaboration entails shared interest and finding a common ground to reach shared goals, change in thinking and ways of working is needed. Change and collaboration are at the heart of the triple nexus approach and therefore collaboration and change management frameworks serve this research. Kotter’s 8-step change management model and five dimensions of collaboration are used to guide the data collection and findings are analyzed using the most relevant steps of change management and collaborative dimensions. The results show how the triple nexus is understood within the NGOs. Different viewpoints came to the fore which can indicate that better communication and more coherence are needed. Concerning the collaboration NGOs have a good foundation to deepen the collaborative relationships which creates positive prospects. The collaborative arrangement benefits all parties and especially at the end the beneficiaries since they are at the core of all the work and the reason why better procedures are sought for.

For the last 60 years, Sweden has been known as a generous donor country. International development cooperation has become a principal objective of Swedish society.  My research aims to examine whether the recent changes in the domestic political scene concerning the uprising of the national right political party, the SD, has affected this international aid paradigm in Sweden. One particular focus of the study has been the aftermath of the 2015 migration crisis.  A qualitative desk study was adopted, and content analysis of official documents was conducted through abductive reasoning to make this study possible   The finding of this study is that solidarity and the moral duty towards those in need have been a very well consolidated motive in the Swedish aid thinking. Accordingly, no noticeable changes are yet to be observed as regards the official aid policy in Sweden. However, the SD´s rhetoric is increasingly echoing in both the press debate and the political scene in Swedish society and is slowly influencing the thinking of both other parties and the society at large.

Rapid urbanization and limited resources is creating enormous challenges to cities in the global South, which has been increasingly acknowledged as a motivation for international cooperation in recent years. Both theory and practice have however paid little attention to how differences in geographical contexts and views on what sustainability is play out in such cooperation. This study therefore explores how Swedish actors have sought to contribute to urban sustainability in low-income countries in the Global South. These efforts are traced through a case study of the Swedish SymbioCity concept by using an actor-network theory approach. Policy mobility theory is used to discuss how the transfer and translation of policies between cities takes focus away from their contested nature. Concepts are then drawn from socio-technical transitions theory to discuss what this specifically means in transitioning towards sustainability. Data is gathered through review of written materials and semi-structured interviews with actors in the case study. In following the evolution of the Sustainable City concept, I argue that it has managed to mutate so well “from trade to aid” due to its “fluid” and lovable qualities and a notion of Swedish urban sustainability which can be flexibly interpreted. In tracing the networking of Swedish sustainability, I argue that SymbioCity has followed a previously observed pattern in which the approach has been adapted to travel and the recipients have been prepared to receive the approach. In considering how the approach has impacted its recipients, I argue that although its applications seem to have been appreciated, the translation of urban sustainability throughout the network has turned focus away from the issue of what urban sustainability is by coordinating activities and by educating the recipients’ attention towards techno-managerial problem framings. I conclude that Swedish actors have managed to carefully adopt a commercial model of urban sustainability to the purposes of development cooperation and its geographical contexts of application. While this mutation has given rise to a network of somewhat disconnected practices, the efforts of both branches have nevertheless contributed to establishing sustainability as being fundamentally uncontested in its nature. This view of sustainability can be said to be permitted by certain interpretations of the Swedish experience of becoming more sustainable. From this I conclude that to ensure that international cooperation for urban sustainability takes place on equal and fundamentally democratic terms, Swedish actors (and sustainability transition theorists alike) would do well to also encourage and facilitate inclusive and critical discussions of how urban sustainability can be understood, in the North as well as the South. The main limitation of this work lies in the actual engagement with the targeted cities, which prevents a thorough understanding of both the perceived and the actual impact of the export of Swedish urban sustainability. Further research should therefore pay attention to how it has affected the targeted cities.

This study offers a feminist critical discourse analysis of how Sida’s discourses can be viewed as consolidating a gender ideology and power asymmetries in gendered social orders. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) and feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA) offer the theoretical and methodological framework to the investigation of gender ideology in Sida’s discourses. Postcolonial theory offers an additional theoretical framework with explanatory understandings of the ideological assumptions identified. According to the findings and in the light of chosen theories, this study suggests that a gender ideology that is underpinned by colonial and capitalist ideologies can be identified in Sida’s discourses. The results show that analyzes of how power systems operate in complex ways to produce gendered inequalities are not accounted for by Sida, whereby their contestation and transformation is hindered. It is also suggested that Sida, in complicity with other actors in the international development arena, has appropriated and distorted feminist concepts in a way that conceals dominant group interest and power dynamics. By shifting the focus away from such, it is further argued that Sida risks reproducing colonial images of underdevelopment and vulnerability as inherent to marginalized groups and as especially inherent to women. This study further suggests that Sida’s consolidating of power asymmetries in discourses is partially explained by the intertwining of institutions and discourses in the international development arena. The reasons behind the power of the identified discourses are argued to serve the maintenance of global hierarchies based on constructions of race and sex, in order to ensure a status quo in the capitalist process of accumulation by dispossession, which continues to benefit wealthy northern countries like Sweden.

Das politische Phänomen ‚fragiler Staaten’ betrifft die Grundfesten des Völkerrechts, und hat dennoch wenig Beachtung in der Rechtswissenschaft gefunden. Staaten, die formal rechtlich anerkannt sind, aber faktisch kaum in der Lage sind, grundlegende staatliche Funktionen auszuüben, beeinträchtigen Funktion und Effektivität der Völkerrechtsordnung. Die Völkerrechtsordnung hängt entscheidend von der Existenz einer effektiven Regierung ab, die zumindest in der Lage ist, Rechte und Pflichten auszuüben und an den internationalen Beziehungen teilzunehmen. In der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit beispielsweise ist die Existenz eines Staates mit rechtlich anerkannter und faktisch handlungsfähiger Regierung eine Grundvoraussetzung für den Transfer finanzieller Ressourcen. Diese Arbeit zeigt mit Blick auf Recht und Praxis der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, dass ‚fragile Staaten’ zwar kein rechtliches Phänomen sind, aber der Umgang von Internationalen Organisationen mit den Herausforderungen fragiler Staatlichkeit durchaus von rechtlicher Relevanz ist. Sie untersucht die formellen und informellen Regeln, die Entwicklungsorganisationen wie die Weltbank für den Umgang mit Staaten mit kaum handlungsfähiger Regierung erlassen haben. Das Resultat ist eine kritische Analyse des sozial konstruierten Phänomens und seiner folgenreichen Übersetzung in rechtliche Regularien. / The political phenomenon of ‘fragile states’ concerns international law’s very foundations, and has yet received little attention from legal scholarship. States that have the legal status of states, but are in fact unable to fulfill even the most basic functions, pose a fundamental problem to the functioning and effectiveness of the international legal order. It crucially depends on the existence of governments with the minimum level of capacity necessary to exercise rights and obligations, and to partake in international cooperation. In development cooperation, for instance, the existence of a state with an authorized and competent government is a basic condition for the transfer of financial assistance. This study looks at the law and practice of development cooperation to show that ‘fragile states’ are a phenomenon beyond law, but how international organizations have addressed the challenges of engaging with fragile states may well be of legal significance. It analyzes the formal and informal rules that development organizations – the World Bank, and a range of regional organizations – have adopted to address the lack or severe limitation of government effectiveness in certain countries. The result is a critical analysis of the discourse on fragile states, and how it has shaped the rule-making activities of international organizations.

The aim of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive view at the development cooperation of the European Economic Community in the 60's and 70's years of the 20th century in relation to the countries of the Third World with a focus on African developing countries. It also deals with the analysis of the very concept of development, development cooperation and development policy. The thesis is conceived from the general to the particular, where are first discussed the main concepts, the grouping and contracts supplemented with more detailed analysis. At first is briefly described the establishment of the EEC and the characteristic of grouping ACP. Then comes the analysis of the actual development cooperation and measures with which was the aid realized. Another two sections are devoted to comprehensive contractual framework of cooperation, which is in this period defined by part IV. Treaty of Rome and the Implementing agreement, two conventions of Yaoundé and the First Lomé convention. In the Lomé Convencion, there were a lot of significant changes made in terms of equality between the EEC and the ACP countries, as the concept of association was changed to the principle of partnership during the time. The development aid had to be managed somehow as well, so in next chapter is the topic of the...