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Putting all the sustainable development eggs in the private sector basket : An investigation into hegemonic struggle in the Danish development community over increasing private sector-driven development

Skotte Møller, Louise Maria LU (2020) In Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science MESM02 20192
LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
Abstract
How sustainable development (SD) is envisioned, practiced and financed is a crucial question today. In Denmark, the former government introduced private sector-driven development (PSDD) at the heart of Danish development cooperation. In this thesis, I seek to understand how the Danish development community (represented in this study by four large civil society NGOs) have positioned themselves to this government paradigm, using critical discourse analysis and Gramsci’s concept of hegemony. I then seek to uncover how hegemony can be explained and challenged in this context.
The thesis shows that despite little evidence to the efficiency of blended finance and partnerships (core tenets of PSDD) as a pathway for SD, the government discourse... (More)
How sustainable development (SD) is envisioned, practiced and financed is a crucial question today. In Denmark, the former government introduced private sector-driven development (PSDD) at the heart of Danish development cooperation. In this thesis, I seek to understand how the Danish development community (represented in this study by four large civil society NGOs) have positioned themselves to this government paradigm, using critical discourse analysis and Gramsci’s concept of hegemony. I then seek to uncover how hegemony can be explained and challenged in this context.
The thesis shows that despite little evidence to the efficiency of blended finance and partnerships (core tenets of PSDD) as a pathway for SD, the government discourse has largely colonized the Danish development community. This discourse is characterized by urgency, necessity, and optimism for PSDD as a win-win solution. The hegemonic NGO discourse reiterates this to a large extent and urges participation in order to guarantee ethics. A counter-hegemonic NGO discourse challenges this with a counter-alternative, ‘public finance for public goods’. All use the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to justify their position.
The vulnerability of the Danish development community to hegemony can be seen as a result of existing social practices, including the universality of broad SD agendas, the allure of win-win solutions, corporate capture of civil society purpose and language and NGOization of civil society. As the last step, pathways for the counter-hegemonic movement to pose a stronger challenge to the PSDD hegemony are discussed. I argue that the discursive struggle must be complemented by praxis and efforts to change the material conditions of the development community. A stronger countermovement may be built on turning away from the SDGs as a final end and with it the growth centered weak sustainability of the government and exploring other conceptualizations better fundamentally challenge the hegemony. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Skotte Møller, Louise Maria LU
supervisor
organization
course
MESM02 20192
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Sustainable Development, Development Finance, Private Sector-Driven Development, Civil Society, Critical Discourse Analysis, Hegemony, Sustainability Science
publication/series
Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science
report number
2020:002
language
English
id
9003984
date added to LUP
2020-02-05 12:42:54
date last changed
2020-02-05 12:42:54
@misc{9003984,
  abstract     = {{How sustainable development (SD) is envisioned, practiced and financed is a crucial question today. In Denmark, the former government introduced private sector-driven development (PSDD) at the heart of Danish development cooperation. In this thesis, I seek to understand how the Danish development community (represented in this study by four large civil society NGOs) have positioned themselves to this government paradigm, using critical discourse analysis and Gramsci’s concept of hegemony. I then seek to uncover how hegemony can be explained and challenged in this context.
The thesis shows that despite little evidence to the efficiency of blended finance and partnerships (core tenets of PSDD) as a pathway for SD, the government discourse has largely colonized the Danish development community. This discourse is characterized by urgency, necessity, and optimism for PSDD as a win-win solution. The hegemonic NGO discourse reiterates this to a large extent and urges participation in order to guarantee ethics. A counter-hegemonic NGO discourse challenges this with a counter-alternative, ‘public finance for public goods’. All use the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to justify their position. 
The vulnerability of the Danish development community to hegemony can be seen as a result of existing social practices, including the universality of broad SD agendas, the allure of win-win solutions, corporate capture of civil society purpose and language and NGOization of civil society. As the last step, pathways for the counter-hegemonic movement to pose a stronger challenge to the PSDD hegemony are discussed. I argue that the discursive struggle must be complemented by praxis and efforts to change the material conditions of the development community. A stronger countermovement may be built on turning away from the SDGs as a final end and with it the growth centered weak sustainability of the government and exploring other conceptualizations better fundamentally challenge the hegemony.}},
  author       = {{Skotte Møller, Louise Maria}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science}},
  title        = {{Putting all the sustainable development eggs in the private sector basket : An investigation into hegemonic struggle in the Danish development community over increasing private sector-driven development}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}