New Donors on the Postcolonial Crossroads. Eastern Europe and Western Aid

Description

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Eastern European countries were said to be playing catch up with the West, and in the field of development cooperation, they were classified as 'new donors.' This book aims to problematize this distinction between old and new development donors, applying an East–West dimension to global Orientalism discourse. The book uses a novel double postcolonial perspective, examining North–South relations and East–West relations simultaneously, and problematizing these distinctions. In particular, the book deploys an empirical analysis of a 'new' Eastern European donor (Slovakia), compared with an 'old' donor (Austria), in order to explore questions around hierarchization, depoliticization and the legitimization of development. This book's innovative approach to the East–West dimension of global Orientalism will be of interest to researchers in postcolonial studies, Eastern European studies, and critical development studies. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 4 Series Page......Page 5 Title Page......Page 6 Copyright Page......Page 7 Dedication......Page 8 Table of Contents......Page 10 List of figures......Page 11 Acknowledgments......Page 12 List of acronyms......Page 13 1 Introduction: On the postcolonial crossroads......Page 16 The comparison and the analysis......Page 19 Why Slovakia and Austria?......Page 25 The analyzed actors......Page 28 An overview of the book......Page 32 Bibliography......Page 34 The origins of development apparatuses: development induced from the outside......Page 40 Weak commitment to aid......Page 43 The regional focus and the national interest: a possible ranking based on the recipients......Page 48 The non-governmental sphere: too close for comfort......Page 51 Motivations for development cooperation: altruism, egoism, and professional interest......Page 54 Conclusion......Page 58 Notes......Page 59 3 Hierarchization of “us” over “them” and its disruptions......Page 65 The continuity with the colonial hierarchy in development discourse and its effects......Page 66 Logocentrism, the general law of development and their disruptions......Page 73 Power in partnership: Austroprojekt’s Plan of Operation......Page 85 Disrupting the development hierarchy through deliberate positivism......Page 88 Fighting “their” negative representations and stereotypes......Page 89 An example of deliberate positivism: an interview with a respondent from CARE......Page 98 Slovaks hierarchize more often and in a sharper way than Austrians......Page 100 Deliberate positivism and its limits......Page 104 Notes......Page 105 4 (De)Politicization of unequal power relations in development discourse......Page 113 The political, politics, police, politicization, and depoliticization......Page 114 Spatial depoliticization......Page 116 Depoliticization through technological solutions, omissions of agents, an explicit consensus invocation, and temporal depoliticzation......Page 130 Forms of politicization......Page 138 The benign government and the potential for politicization through the good governance and policy coherence discourses......Page 139 Cultural depoliticization and politicization in archipolitics through education......Page 142 Depoliticization through politicization of unequal gender relationships......Page 148 Weak and strong politicization......Page 150 Conclusion......Page 157 Notes......Page 158 Bibliography......Page 159 5 (De)Legitimization of development......Page 168 The usual understanding of development and developmentas progress......Page 171 Other constructions of legitimation in the analyzed texts......Page 174 The critical perspective: development as partnership, “real” development, Westernization, and sustainable development......Page 178 Explaining the discursive practice......Page 184 Conclusion......Page 189 Notes......Page 190 Bibliography......Page 191 The analysis and the compar......Page 195 A tentative attempt at explaining some of the results......Page 199 On the representativeness of the results and suggestions for further research......Page 204 Notes......Page 206 Bibliography......Page 207 Index......Page 208