Claims and realities of inter-state relations: the case of Kenya-Norway aid relations

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the claims by official records and scholarly observations to the effect that Norwegian aid, unlike aid from the major industrial powers, is objectively functional in recipient terms as observed in chapter one. The study seeks to do so by assessing the Kenya-Norway economic relationship instituted in 1965, within the realms of the interdependency and development paradigms. Chapter two sets the pace for the said analysis by discussing the need for foreign development assistance and the component characteristics of the ideal development aid. The third chapter makes an assessment of a selected number of Norway-funded projects in Kenya, their objectives, operational results, and their impact. The nature of the Kenya-Norway aid relationship is assessed in chapter four wherein salient policy shifts in the process of Norwegian aid administration are noted together with their development implications for the recipient. Chapter five is a synthesis of the findings and addresses the presumed Norwegian aid objectivity vis-a-vis the idea- of conditionality. The last chapter is a summary of the preceding ones and contains conclusions and recommendations. It is contended herein that whereas Norway has disbursed aid to Kenya largely in the form of grants, it has, in fact, not escaped from the general trend within the donor community towards conditionality of aid and commercialization of the same; hence practically negating the presupposed objectivity of the said aid.