Development Cooperation: A Dinosaur?

Abstract

From the outset, in the 1950s and 1960s, justifications for and conditions attached to development cooperation have changed continually. The changes in the 2000s in particular indicate that development policy is not only being constantly developed further and adapted, but is also undergoing fundamental reorientation. However, these reforms and changes are not always consistent and, indeed, often contradictory. On the one hand, the debate on aid effectiveness clearly reveals the call for development policy to be developed further and professionalised in respect of its core task of contributing to development processes in partner countries. On the other hand, the effectiveness agenda is lacking in its coverage of the reality of increasingly complex international cooperative relations.