The Political Economy of Sweden's Development Policy in Africa

Abstract

This article argues that the basic model of Sweden's development policy in Africa represents an attempt to internationalize her own developmental experience. The philosophical underpinnings of that experience are found to be the ideas of integration, solidarity and equality. There is a latent tension between the idea of integration, which implies partial incremental reforms, and that of solidarity, which would presuppose a more radical approach to alleviate the plight of the weakest. After descriptive and evaluative accounts of Swedish development policy in Africa, the author suggests a policy agenda for future efforts in this field. A strategy of accommodation rather than a radical challenge of status quo must, realistically speaking, be a starting point for future Swedish policy. Even within the framework of an accommodationist policy, a critical attitude toward the negative structural features of capitalist development can be brought about. At the international level, Sweden can work for institutional reforms in international organizations concerned with development issues. Such reforms should strive to give the developing countries a more central position in the decision-making structures, while at the same time de-emphasizing the role of the nation-state in favour of collective regional efforts and organizations.