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The Global Development Race and the Samaritan's Dilemma: Development Aid Discourse in Danish Agriculture, 1960–1970

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2008

GUNNAR LIND HAASE SVENDSEN
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Rural Research and Development, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9, 6700 Esbjerg, Denmark; [email protected].
GERT TINGGAARD SVENDSEN
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus, Bartholins Allé, Building 331, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; [email protected].

Abstract

Why has ‘development aid’ been donated by so-called developed to under-developed populations since the Second World War? Using discourse analysis, this article provides partial answers to this riddle. First, we suggest that donor motives may be rooted in an ideology of ‘being good’, which, paradoxically, motivates recipients to be helpless – that is, a Samaritan's dilemma. Second, drawing on journal articles published in 1960–70, we test this theory by tracing a global development discourse and ‘goodness ideology’ in a Western country such as Denmark – a process that was strongly influenced by the agricultural co-operative movement, which sought to export the ‘Danish co-operative model’.

La course au développement global et le dilemme du samaritain: le discours de l'aide au développement dans l'agriculture danoise, 1960–1970

Pourquoi est-ce que les pays dits développés ont apporté leur ‘ide au développement’ ux populations moins développées depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale? En utilisant l'analyse du discours, cet article livre des réponses partielles à cette énigme. Premièrement, nous suggérons que les motifs du donateur peuvent avoir leur origine dans une idéologie ‘être bon’, qui, paradoxalement, motive les bénéficiaires à être démunis; c'est le dilemme du samaritain. Deuxièmement, en se servant d'articles de journaux de 1960 à 1970, nous essayons cette théorie en esquissant un discours global du développement et une ‘déologie de la bonté’ dans un pays occidental comme le Danemark – un processus qui a fortement été influencé par le mouvement agricole coopératif, qui a cherché à exporter le ‘model coopératif danois’.

Das globale rennen um die entwicklung und das samariterdilemma: entwicklungshilfediskurs in der dänischen landwirtschaft, 1960–1970

Warum haben die sogenannten entwickelten Länder seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg den unterentwickelten Ländern ‘Entwicklungshilfe’ gegeben? Mittels Diskursanalyse versucht dieser Artikel, partielle Antworten auf diese Frage zu finden. Erstens schlagen wir vor, daß die Gründe ihren Ursprung in einer Ideologie des ‘Gut-Seins’ haben, welches paradoxerweise die Empfänger motiviert, hilflos zu sein. Es handelt sich also um ein Samariterdilemma. Zweitens, gestützt auf Zeitungsartikel von 1960 bis 1970, testen wir diese Theorie durch das Nachzeichnen eines globalen Entwicklungsdiskurses und einer ‘Ideologie des Gutens’ in Dänemark. Hier war der Prozeß von der kooperativen Landwirtschaftsbewegung, welche versuchte das ‘dänische kooperative Modell’ zu exportieren, stark beeinflußt.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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References

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22 Vague threats or promises to cut off charity by a donor in the absence of work on the part of the recipient will remain empty unless there is a demonstrated willingness to carry out such threats. However, as Buchanan puts it, ‘to carry these out, the Samaritan will, in actuality, suffer disutility which may be severe. He may find himself seriously injured by the necessity of watching the parasite starve himself while refusing work. Furthermore, even if the parasite works, the Samaritan suffers by his own inability to provide charity’. Buchanan, ‘Samaritan's Dilemma’, 76.

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36 Among these modern-thinking new leaders and experts was Anders Andersen, who during the 1960s headed the Danish National Confederation of Agricultural Syndicates, was president of the Danish Agricultural Council and an MP; economist Poul Nyboe Andersen, chairman of the Danish Union of Co-operative Wholesale Societies and of the Danish Agency for Promotion of Technical Co-operation with Developing Countries (1962–5); Johs. Dons Christensen, chairman of the Danish Co-operative Committee; Clemens Pedersen, editor of Andelsbladet during that period; Professor Kjeld Philip, special consultant for the Danish Agency for Underdeveloped Countries on issues on agricultural co-operatives; and Torkil Mathiassen, head of the Danish Dairy Office.

37 See Andelsbladet 1963: 3.

38 Ugeskrift for Landmænd (UfL) 1963: 733 (our translation).

39 Andelsbladet (1965), 1186, 1368.

40 Andelsbladet (1962), 113, 125, 303, 958; (1963), 1045.

41 Andelsbladet (1962), 958.

42 Andelsbladet (1961), 159.

44 Ibid., 187.

45 Ibid., 189.

46 Ibid., 219.

47 Ibid., 189. Whether Myrdal's economic analysis was correct or not, it seems evident that the implicit development theory it builds on was the idea of a global development race with equal participants. In contrast, the evolutionist ideas of Herbert Spencer and Edward Tylor implied development as biologically determined evolution, i.e. conditioned by the physical, mental, social and cultural environments of various human races – polygenesis – involving naturally conditioned qualifications among participants in the global development race. Rather, Myrdal's vision is very similar to that of nineteenth-century English Christian altruists, who emphasised the unity of human races, in that every human being was created by the same God (Hirst, Social Evolution; H. E. Augstein, ‘Physical Anthropology: Natural Similarity’, Clio Medica, 52, 1 (1999), 57–104. In this monogenetic version, all races had the same opportunities to ascend the evolutionary ladder, because they were made of the same material – although lack of Christian enlightenment could act as a barrier.

48 Andelsbladet (1966), 129.

49 Andelsbladet (1965), 31, 124; (1966), 422.

50 Andelsbladet (1963), 1280.

51 See also Svendsen and Svendsen, Creation and Destruction of Social Capital.

52 Andelsbladet (1964), 688.

53 E.g. Andelsbladet (1965), 923, 1186, 1304; (1966), 860; (1968), 1128; (1970), 70.

54 Andelsbladet (1966), 860.

55 Andelsbladet (1963), 60.

56 Andelsbladet (1964), 511.

57 For example, Nyboe Andersen stated in 1965 that ‘in the long run, a good contact to, and goodwill in, the developing countries may enhance Danish agricultural exports’. In a true altruistic spirit he hastened to add that, primarily, ‘the economic, technical and social development within Danish agriculture during the last century contains elements of high value for ongoing development in poor agricultural countries all over the world’ (Andelsbladet (1965), 261).

58 E.g. Andelsbladet (1965), 78 ff.

59 Andelsbladet (1964), 510.

60 Dansk Ungdom (Danish Youth) (1961), 150; Andelsbladet (1961), 210.

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69 Andelsbladet (1970), 1065; (1963), 451 ff., 1011 ff.

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