Från drabbad till dysfunktionell? En postkolonial kritisk diskursanalys av Sveriges biståndsreform
(2024) STVK04 20241Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- Development aid has been criticized for maintaining an unequal power relationship between donors and recipients and has therefore been compared to a form of colonialism. Post-colonial critics of development work argue that it reproduces colonial discourses, in which aid recipients are portrayed as subordinate to Western donors. This unequal power relationship also manifests itself materially, for example, because aid often is conditioned. This implies that aid is given provided that the recipients meet certain requirements. This paper makes use of a critical discourse analysis to examine how Sweden as a donor versus recipients are portrayed in the new Swedish aid reform. The reform includes new conditions for aid. Particular focus is... (More)
- Development aid has been criticized for maintaining an unequal power relationship between donors and recipients and has therefore been compared to a form of colonialism. Post-colonial critics of development work argue that it reproduces colonial discourses, in which aid recipients are portrayed as subordinate to Western donors. This unequal power relationship also manifests itself materially, for example, because aid often is conditioned. This implies that aid is given provided that the recipients meet certain requirements. This paper makes use of a critical discourse analysis to examine how Sweden as a donor versus recipients are portrayed in the new Swedish aid reform. The reform includes new conditions for aid. Particular focus is placed on how the portrayal has changed compared to the previous policy for Swedish development aid. The paper is based on postcolonial theory. The analysis shows that Swedish aid policy is characterized by colonial discourses both before and after the reform. At the same time, the portrayal of recipients has slightly changed. Recipients are now to a greater extent attributed negative characteristics, rather than being portrayed as vulnerable sufferers. In particular, recipients and other non-Western actors have become more passive and less empowered in relation to their development. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9152654
- author
- Hellman, Ebba LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- STVK04 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Development aid, aid conditionality, discourse analysis, postcolonialism
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9152654
- date added to LUP
- 2024-07-18 11:09:38
- date last changed
- 2024-07-18 11:09:38
@misc{9152654,
abstract = {{Development aid has been criticized for maintaining an unequal power relationship between donors and recipients and has therefore been compared to a form of colonialism. Post-colonial critics of development work argue that it reproduces colonial discourses, in which aid recipients are portrayed as subordinate to Western donors. This unequal power relationship also manifests itself materially, for example, because aid often is conditioned. This implies that aid is given provided that the recipients meet certain requirements. This paper makes use of a critical discourse analysis to examine how Sweden as a donor versus recipients are portrayed in the new Swedish aid reform. The reform includes new conditions for aid. Particular focus is placed on how the portrayal has changed compared to the previous policy for Swedish development aid. The paper is based on postcolonial theory. The analysis shows that Swedish aid policy is characterized by colonial discourses both before and after the reform. At the same time, the portrayal of recipients has slightly changed. Recipients are now to a greater extent attributed negative characteristics, rather than being portrayed as vulnerable sufferers. In particular, recipients and other non-Western actors have become more passive and less empowered in relation to their development.}},
author = {{Hellman, Ebba}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Från drabbad till dysfunktionell? En postkolonial kritisk diskursanalys av Sveriges biståndsreform}},
year = {{2024}},
}