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Contributions from
the Column
Media
Postmodern Global Governance – The UNCCD
Development policy textbook
Development assistance – a worthy endeavour?
The World Guide 2005/2006
12/2005 |
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Development assistance:
Thought-provoking arguments
Jürgen H. Wolff:
Entwicklungshilfe. Ein hilfreiches Gewerbe? – Versuch einer Bilanz
(Development assistance. A helpful
business? – An attempt to take stock).
Münster, Lit Verlag 2005,
298 pages, ¤19.90, ISBN 3-8258-8162-8
“Where hunger and misery are escalating (particularly so in black Africa), this is occurring despite significant (and far above-average) levels of development assistance. Criticism is mounting, that this unhappy state of affairs has occurred not in spite of the development assistance to the continent, but because of it.” According to Jürgen H. Wolff, Professor of Sociology of Developing Countries at the Ruhr University in Bochum, life expectancy and education levels are rising almost everywhere in the world, standards of health and nutrition are improving, and prosperity is spreading. He substantiates this assertion with a large amount of data. The only exception is sub-Saharan Africa. For political scientist Wolff, the region is the “catastrophe continent par excellence”.
Wolff places the responsibility for this situation firmly at the door of the “development establishment” – those institutions whose entire existence is based on development assistance. Wolff detects a “micro-macro-paradox” here: successes at the micro level go hand-in-hand with failures at the level of society as a whole. The development establishment may be able to cite figures and analyses to support the usefulness of its contributions, but this does not necessarily mean that the projects endure over time. Wolff accuses the institutions of a lack of objectivity, because they do not subject their work to independent scrutiny. But why should they? With what justification could they continue their costly work, asks Wolff, if not for some evidence of its beneficial effect? Accordingly, the conclusions he draws about development policy are bleak.
This forms the basis of his suggestions for reform. Wolff calls for increased research by as many independent observers as possible, instead of by “pessimists with vested interests”. The aim must be to create acceptable living conditions for all people, not to ensure absolute equality. Studies must investigate more thoroughly the reason why development assistance has achieved such mixed results, and ascertain the connection between development assistance and actual development. Development aid that does not deliver any tangible success should be discontinued.
Wolff further concludes that German development cooperation, with its myriad of institutions, is also in need of reform: both the donor and the recipient sides should be privatised, and the monopoly position of the German Association for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the KfW development bank should be dissolved. Neither of these organisations is needed to achieve economic growth and alleviate poverty. Rather, indirect support could contribute to this goal, too. In many cases, however, state reforms and economic reforms have been undertaken only for the benefit of elites. Wolff doubts whether development assistance can reduce poverty permanently. He argues that only those countries which usher in “efficient” governance and economic reforms should receive assistance.
In spite of some partly-justified criticism, at times the book appears to be more a matter of settling scores than taking stock. The desired long-term results can only be achieved by introducing interactive measures at micro, macro and meso levels. In arguing that government institutions on the recipient side should be ignored, Wolff overlooks the important part they play in creating favourable conditions for projects at the micro level. Wolff may be correct in saying that Africa south of the Sahara is in an extremely desperate situation (not for nothing is this region a particular focus of international development cooperation). But that fact should not result in the neglect or exclusion of other regions. China and India are home to 50 % of the world’s poor. The rapid economic growth in these countries must not blind us to the fact that, while providing for good averages, it is also leading to an ever-growing income divide.
Regine Reim
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