The UN and Development: From Aid to Cooperation

1. Pre-Aid Traditions and Ideas and the Institutional Heritage

ONE Pre-Aid Traditions and Ideas and the Institutional Heritage n The Traditions n The Ideas n The Institutional Heritage A variety of traditions—each with a primary purpose of its own, a particular mode of work, and different institutional frameworks—may have inspired the UN and its member governments to take on the new commitment of providing international development assistance. Some of these traditions shared basic values and norms; some did not. This calls for a separate discussion of the influence traditions and ideas may have exerted when the idea of development assistance was first generated and institutionalized within the UN system. The ideas pertaining to development aid in the reports, resolutions, and declarations of the League of Nations and the early years of the United Nations are a second source of inspiration. Another source of inspiration was the Marshall Plan—the massive transfers of resources by the United States to help European countries rebuild their war-torn economies after World War II. The various traditions, ideas, institutional heritages, and more recent experiences that will be briefly outlined in this chapter represent possible sources and inspirations of what later became international development assistance. This chapter, therefore, is meant as the first step in an effort to identify the main sources of this idea and their main characteristics. In chapter 4 we will look for footprints of these possible sources in the implementation of the idea of international aid. The Traditions The traditions included here cover organized activities initiated in the North that were intended to provide benefits of some kind in the South. At least a grain of altruism may have been involved in the values and 34 n The Emergence of International Development Assistance norms underpinning the basic objectives of these activities. Although this may be true for most of the traditions, such activities may also have been driven by other interests. Four traditions have often been referred to as sources of international development assistance: humanitarian relief, international solidarity, human rights, and missionary work. Several of these may be subsumed under the category of humanism. In this brief overview, a fifth tradition is added: imperialism. Colonial relations constituted a high-priority issue in the ministries of foreign affairs of the imperial powers—the powers holding center court when the idea of development assistance became institutionalized in the United Nations. The other traditions were supplements or reactions to the predominant tradition of imperialism. What are the major features of these varying traditions? What were their primary aims? What norms guided their operations and institutional setup? What was the basis of their primary values and interests? The Imperialist Tradition The most powerful and systematic pre-aid influence the North exerted on development in the South was created by a number of imperial powers and the companies operating under their protection or even as their agents. For some European powers, this tradition had a long history that, by the late 1940s, was still in operation with the exception of only a few cases. The form of colonial rule differed from one imperial power to another, setting different marks on colonized societies. We may distinguish between the British policy of indirect rule, which relied on traditional systems and rulers that were subordinated to a colonial superstructure , and the French policy of direct rule, which adapted its own administrative system to its colonies. And then there was the Portuguese government, which considered its colonies integral parts of the motherland . All these factors make it difficult to generalize about the tradition of imperialism.1 The process of colonization was, by definition, characterized by suppression and authoritarian rule. The various forms of economic development that took place were skewed to serve the needs and interests of the imperial power. This process also applied to the efforts to improve infrastructure, communications, and transportation. Still, it brought technology to the colonies as well as capital investment. Schools, especially missionary schools, followed in the wake of colonialism. Imperial powers created a web of political, economic, and cultural Pre-Aid Traditions and Ideas and the Institutional Heritage n 35 relations between themselves and their colonies and dependencies. Only in exceptional cases were such ties cut at independence. Asymmetrical linkages strongly influenced the idea of providing development assistance. The way that colonial relations ended—whether gradually, through a peacefully negotiated agreement, or abruptly, through a violent liberation struggle— is another relevant factor. We can assume that these past...