Avoiding Responsibility: The Politics and Discourse of European Development Policy

Abstract

Post-colonial European politics have undergone profound changes. Constructing an intellectual history of European development discourse, this book brings together post-structuralist and critical approaches to understanding development. Nathalie Karagiannis analyses three key terms of European development discourse: ‘responsibility’, ‘efficiency’ and ‘giving’. Situating these terms in a concrete history of European post-colonial politics, the author shows how European policy has shifted from accepting responsibility for colonialism – constructed as it is on the paternalistic model of the gift – to a more amnesiac politics in which post-colonial countries are responsible for their own fate. In this way, Karagiannis illustrates that efficiency has become the overriding goal of development, and that the relationship between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries is mainly defined by considerations pertaining to market capitalism.

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