On the side of the angels: altruism in Danish development aid 1960–2005

Abstract

Based on a theoretical definition of altruism the article investigates the relationship between this and other motives in Danish official development assistance 1960–2005. In the historical unfolding and general mode of operation of the Danish aid regime altruism has been an important, but only vaguely specified motive, endorsed by those involved on all levels: politicians, interest groups, specialists, activists and voters. However, other important motives, of an economic and political and even structural-systemic nature, both national and international, can also be identified. Some of these are deemed reconcilable with an altruistic core motivation while others exercised a disruptive and competing influence. The multiplicity of agency and the derived need for consensus has tended to obstruct accountability and dilute responsibility in the aid system. Unfortunately, the frequent invocations of altruism in order to justify the aid programme may have served to downplay the importance of problems with aid efficiency and to marginalise criticism.

Keywords:

• history of development aid
• foreign policy of small states
• altruism
• contemporary history of Denmark

Notes

 1. In this article, the concepts development aid and foreign aid are sometimes used interchangeably, mainly because the distinction between the two concepts appears to be less stringent in Anglo-Saxon literature than in Danish. However, this practice should not obscure the fact that what is being discussed in this article is the use and dynamics of giving Official Development Assistance (ODA) as defined by OECD's Development Aid Committee (DAC), see definition at http://www.oecd.org/glossary/0,3414,en_2649_33721_1965693_1_1_1_1,00.html [Accessed 14 May 2010].

 2. Quoted from ‘På englenes side.’ Jyllands-Posten, 13 Jan. 2008.

 3. Paldam, Dansk u-landshjælp: Altruismens politiske økonomi, 1997. See also Paldam's recent econometric study (with Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson), ‘Does development aid help poor countries converge to our standard of living?’

 4. Lumsdaine, Moral Vision in International Politics. The Foreign Aid Regime 1949–1989, 3.

 5. Lumsdaine, Moral Vision in International Politics. The Foreign Aid Regime 1949–1989, 283.

 6. Lumsdaine, Moral Vision in International Politics. The Foreign Aid Regime 1949–1989, 39 ff. This point has also been stressed by one of the most highly profiled Nordic aid researchers, Olav Stokke. See ‘The Determinants of Aid Policies: General Introduction.’ See also the recent article by Svendsen and Svendsen, ‘The Global Development Race and the Samaritan's Dilemma: The Development Discourse in Danish Agriculture, 1960–1970,’ in which the roots of the Danish ‘goodness ideology’ are traced back to the Danish agricultural co-operative movement.

 7. Idealer og realiteter. Dansk udviklingspolitiks historie 1945–2005, 529. The book is by Sune Kaur-Pedersen (‘Spiren til dansk udviklingspolitik 1945–1962,’ 24–115), Jan Pedersen (‘Det bilaterale program i støbeskeen 1962–1975,’ 116–257), Thorsten Borring Olesen (‘Stabilitet og turbulens. Udviklingspolitikken 1975–1989,’ 258–389) and Christian Friis Bach (‘Foregangslandet under forandring 1989–2005,’ 390–515). The editors' conclusion, by Carsten Due-Nielsen and Nikolaj Petersen, is titled ‘Nogle hovedtræk af dansk udviklingspolitiks historie 1945–2005’ (pp. 516–34). Concluding remarks concerning several competing impulses are on pp. 257, 338 ff., 387, 511-513.

 8. See for example Schraeder, S. Hook and B. Taylor, ‘Clarifying the Foreign Aid Puzzle. A Comparison of American, Japanese, French and Swedish Aid Flows,’ and A. Alesina and D. Dollar, ‘Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why?’

 9. Lancaster, Foreign Aid. Diplomacy, Development and Domestic Politics, 3 ff. More recently, Carol Lancaster has published a comparative survey of the profile and motives behind Danish and US foreign aid. See ‘Danish and US Foreign Aid Compared: A View from Washington,’ 31–54.

10. Monroe, ‘A Fat Lady in a Corset: Altruism and Social Theory,’ 861, 863.

11. Piliavin and Charng, ‘Altruism: A Review of Recent Theory and Research,’ 27.

12. McNeilly, ‘Egoism in Hobbes,’ 201–5; Colman, ‘Bernard Mandeville and the Reality of Virtue,’ 125–7; Horne, ‘Envy and Commercial Society: Mandeville and Smith on “Private Vices, Public Benefits”,’ 555.

13. Evensky, ‘Adam Smith's “Theory of Moral Sentiments”: On Morals and Why They Matter to a Liberal Society of Free People and Free Markets,’ 116.

14. Paldam, Dansk u-landshjælp: Altruismens politiske økonomi, 194–204, 406 ff.

15. Williamson, ‘Calculativeness, Trust, and Economic Organization’; Granovetter, ‘The Impact of Social Structure on Economic Outcomes.’

16. Simon, ‘Darwinism, Altruism and Economics.’

17. The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) was created inside the OECD when the latter was established in 1960.

18. Brunbech, Dansk udviklingspolitik 1949–1971, 95–234; Idealer og realiteter.

19. Brunbech, ‘Early Danish Development Assistance Policy, 1945–1962.’ See also Dierikx, ‘Developing Policy on Development. The Hague 1945–1977.’

20. Pedersen, ‘Denmark's Bilateral Aid, 1962–1991,’ 182 ff., quote from p. 182. See also Peter Brunbech, Dansk udviklingspolitik 1949–1971, 322–71.

21. See Development Assistance Breakdown for 2006, in Denmark's Participation in International Development Cooperation, Annual Report 2006, at http://www.um.dk/NR/rdonlyres/3CC5BBAC-0C7A-4628-B45C-DE76AF1ADC4A/0/Danida2006.pdf [Accessed 14 May 2010].

22. Already early on, research on Danish development aid praxis pointed to the consensual character of the aid system (Holm, Hvad Danmark gør … En analyse af dansk u-landspolitik; Boel, ‘“Politisk ro” som politisk mål?) See also the excellent research overview in Hansen, Dansk udviklingspolitisk forvaltning og debat 1994–2007 – fra konsensus til dissens, 14–27.

23. Idealer og realiteter, 117 ff., 177 ff., 297 ff. and 338 ff. See also Lancaster, Foreign Aid, 191 ff. and 205 ff.

24. The term was developed by Gorm Rye Olsen; see ‘Danish Development Policy. The Art of Compromise,’ 244. See also Olsen, ‘Danish Aid Policy in the Post-Cold War Period: Increasing Resources and Minor Adjustments.’

25. Idealer og realiteter, 345 ff.

26. Thus, quite fierce controversy erupted when the Social Democrat government led by Anker Jørgensen in 1979–80 proposed to cut aid budgets; and when in 1984–5 a majority in Parliament pushed the centre-Right government to accept the goal of reaching the 1% ODA goal by 1992; or when aid to communist/socialists states such as Vietnam or Angola or a military dictatorship like Bangladesh was tabled (see Kelm-Hansen, Det koster at være solidarisk. Socialdemokratiets u-landspolitik 1945–2000, 150 ff. and 186 ff.; Idealer og realiteter, 338 ff. and 363 ff; Lancaster, Foreign Aid, 194 ff.).

27. However, in the grand perspective one should not over-emphasise the character of the break. The Fogh Rasmussen government did not cut aid below the UN 0.7% target and Denmark continued to figure in the top among those countries with the highest ODA spending percentage.

28. Petersen, ‘Europæisk og globalt engagement,’ 621 ff.; Hansen, Dansk udviklingspolitisk forvaltning og debat 1994–2007, 63–100; Idealer og realiteter, 414 ff.; Olsen, ‘Danish Aid Policy in the Post-Cold War Period,’ 210–11.

29. Idealer og realiteter, 125f, 149f, 212, 348, 350.

30. Idealer og realiteter, 121.

31. Betænkning om principperne for den danske bistand til udviklingslandene , 222.

32. Betænkning om principperne for den danske bistand til udviklingslandene [White paper on the principles governing Danish aid to developing countries], 73, 222.

33. Idealer og realiteter, 425. We consider it evident, already based on the sources that are indicative for the orientation of the aid programme, that altruism was, if not the only motive, then always part and parcel of the self-knowledge of Danish aid circles. Therefore, we abstain from identifying and analysing altruism as an independent rhetorical and discursive phenomenon in a broader selection of programmatic declarations, political speeches and journalism.

34. Surveys in other countries point in the same direction, cf. Otter, ‘Domestic Public Support for Foreign Aid: Does It Matter?’; Riddell, Does Foreign Aid Really Work?

35. It should be noted that the aid theme was part of the motivation for, not the content of the show, and that the series was generally admired for its artistic quality and good spirit.

36. Pedersen, ‘Institutionelt betinget strategi i udviklingsbistanden’, 62; idem, ‘Danmark og Latinamerika: Udviklingsbistand mellem solidaritetsarbejde og international politik’, 49.

37. Riddell, Does Foreign Aid Really Work? 260.

38. Idealer og realiteter, 188–95.

39. Pedersen ‘Danmark og Latinamerika: …’, 51.

40. Le Grand, Motivation, Agency and Public Policy: Of Knights and Knaves, Pawns and Queens, 27.

41. Le Grand, Motivation, Agency and Public Policy: Of Knights and Knaves, Pawns and Queens, 50.

42. Idealer og realiteter, 241 ff.

43. Liverani and Lundgren, ‘Evaluation Systems in Development Aid Agencies: An Analysis of DAC Peer Reviews 1996–2004.’

44. Carlsen, ‘Danida: Danida lægger kritikere på is’ [Danida: Danida gives critics the cold shoulder]. Information, 22 May 2009; Lyngsø-Petersen, ‘Evaluering: Et fagligt svagt Danida tåler ikke kritik’. Information, 5 July 2009.

45. Idealer og realiteter, 89.

46. Idealer og realiteter, 181, 347ff.

47. Riddell, Does Foreign Aid Really Work? 105.

48. Idealer og realiteter, 217 ff.; Pedersen, ‘Denmark's bilateral aid, 1962–1991,’ 209–12.

49. Vilby, ‘I Danida har man ikke tid – eller lyst?’, 40–3.

50. Rosenberg, ‘Economic Development and the Transfer of Technology: Some Historical Perspectives.’

51. Pedersen, ‘Denmark's bilateral aid, 1962–1991,’ 212–15.

52. Lancaster, Foreign Aid, 5.

53. Alesina and Dollar, ‘Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why?’

54. Brunbech, Dansk udviklingspolitik 1949–1971, 406–22.

55. Brunbech, Dansk udviklingspolitik 1949–1971, 413. Recently Carol Lancaster has also stressed this point; see Lancaster, ‘Danish and US Foreign Aid Compared: A View from Washington,’ 34 ff.

56. See Betænkning om udenrigstjenesten, 19. Also, Olesen and Villaume, ‘I blokopdelingens tegn 1945–1972.’

57. Hækkerup, Danmarks udenrigspolitik, 152.

58. Hækkerup, Danmarks udenrigspolitik, (our translation)144 ff. See also Lancaster, Foreign Aid, 69 ff. on the Kennedy administration's strong support for the so-called Development Decade as ‘a historic opportunity’ to create self-sustained growth in the less-developed world (and thereby ‘promote … democracy and diminish radical impulses’).

59. Hækkerup, Danmarks udenrigspolitik, 45 ff. On the interpretations of the workings of the cornerstone structure, including the term ‘functional compartmentalization’, see Olesen and Poul Villaume, ‘I blokopdelingens tegn 1945–1972,’ pp. 15 ff. and 442 ff. and Due-Nielsen and Petersen, ‘The Foreign Policy of Denmark 1967–1993,’ 40 ff.

60. See Midtgaard, Småstat, magt og sikkerhed. Danmark og FN 1949–1965, 373.

61. In the 1980s the Nordic countries' share of financial support for the UNDP amounted to 30% of total donor contributions to the programme, or three times as much as that of the USA; see Idealer og realiteter, 314 ff.

62. Østergaard quoted from speech notes, ‘Motiver for udviklingsbistand’, enclosed material from the conference ‘Erhvervslivet og udviklingslandene’ (31 Oct. 1977) in the Archives of Rådet for International Udviklingssamarbejde: Referater af møder (RA [Danish National Archives]). The linkage between the wider foreign policy interest and Danish aid is also, and very fundamentally so, mirrored by the fact that Danida institutionally has been part of the Foreign Ministry. In her recent comparison of Danish and US aid, Lancaster (‘Danish and US Foreign Aid Compared: A View from Washington,’ 52 ff.) makes the interesting point that, seen from an American perspective, it has been an advantage for keeping a developmental approach that the US aid system has not been subsumed under the State Department to the same degree.

63. Idealer og realiteter, 338 ff.; Petersen, ‘Europæisk og globalt engagement,’ 141 ff. Confidence building could also involve further foreign policy aims. The joint Nordic initiative of the 1980s towards the so-called South African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) countries had as an explicit goal contributing to diminishing the Southern African states' dependence on South Africa. In this case, the Nordic states would be pleased if the initiative in combination with their generally highly profiled anti-apartheid foreign policies would contribute to regime change.

64. Idealer og realiteter, 385 ff. See also Olesen, ‘Between Words and Deeds. Denmark and the NIEO agenda 1974–1982.’

65. Idealer og realiteter, 504 ff.

66. Nikolaj Petersen has made the most profound analysis of this policy change; see Petersen, ‘Europæisk og globalt engagement,’ 573–641.

67. Idealer og realiteter, 414–22.

68. See Sørensen, ‘Liberalism of Constraint or Liberalism by Imposition: Liberal Values and the World Order in the New Millennium.’

69. Interview with Ulla Tørnæs, ‘Vi skal væk fra godheden,’ Fyens Stiftstidende, 29 June 2008.

70. In his 2005 article Gorm Rye Olsen concludes that two main features, the specific character of the Danish (aid) policy community and the discursive power of moral arguments, explain the high Danish ODA expenditure and the remarkable continuity in aid goals and policy. However, Olsen also observes that this conclusion, in the light of the 2001 turnabout, may have to be modified. See G. Rye Olsen, ‘Danish Aid Policy in the Post-Cold War Period,’ 210 ff.

71. Le Grand, Motivation, Agency and Public Policy, 66.

72. See for instance Minister for Development Aid, Ulla Tørnæs' recent engagement with Paldam's criticism in note 69 of this article.

73. As for instance stated by Minister Ulla Tørnæs in an interview with Berit Holm Jensen on 23 June 2008, published in several Danish newspapers.

74. ‘2005 Ranking the Rich.’