Development Discourse under the Economic Crisis: An Analysis of the Communication Strategy of Spanish NGO

Abstract

The economic crisis has radically and rapidly transformed the Spanish non-governmental sector. The present research analyses the discursive evolution of the 'Development' Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) in Spain between 2003 and 2013. It focused on the case of Oxfam Intermon, the Spanish affiliate of Oxfam International, which is a representative and paradigmatic example of an NGO that has incorporated a discourse which represented 'development' as a matter of capabilities and rights. This paper consisted of a critical discourse analysis of two documents of the annual reports of 2003/2004 and 2012/2013, paying attention to the context, semantic propositions, and discursive strategies. It concluded that the NGO's 'development' discourse has been partially 're-politicised' as a result of adaptations to economic crisis, changes in priorities of the Spanish population and the emergence of new social movements, such as the M15.