Panel 7: “Aid as a Means of Power for Developing States?”

Recent developments in international discourses emphasize the necessity for states in developing countries to assume leadership in the aid relationship. This new trend illustrates the attempt by donors to reverse the traditional practice of aid, often denounced as an unequal balance of power. Going beyond discourses, this panel aims at analysing what is at stake in this “renewed” state-donor relationship. To this end, it takes the state perspective to investigate the effects of this relationship on its stateness and sovereignty : we would like to shed light on the on-going games played by international and national actors in order to (re)negotiate their positions in the development field. In this aid relationship, are receiving states in practice really at the centre of development policies or are international actors able to retain their leading position in the policy-making process? This panel aims at showing that, beyond discourses on statedonor inequality, international aid can be a means for the state to reinforce its position vis-à-vis international and national actors. Examining how it tries/manages to (re)configure itself through its ties to international aid will be the guiding thread of this panel.

Based on empirical research, this panel will put particular emphasis on aid sectors that attract strong international commitments (AIDS, environment...). Contributions are welcome to focus on the national as well as local level.