Responsibility and partnership in Swedish aid discourse

Abstract

In 1997 the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs elaborated a 'New Policy for Africa'. Its purpose was to co-ordinate the country's cultural assistance, trade and development aid to African countries by giving these activities a frame of common goals and an ideological rationale, emphasising 'partnership' rather than 'solidarity' or 'aid'. This paper analyses the metaphors and paradoxes of the rhetorical draping of the policy as presented in the main report and the speeches of various officials. Of particular concern is what image of moral and reciprocal relations the policy mediates.

CONTENTS -- Swedish aid to Africa. The background -- Three decades of Swedish developmental debate -- The nature of partnership -- Agency and the worthy self -- Africans with agency: The new generation -- Conclusion