Political conditionalities and development cooperation: the Kenya-Denmark relations in the post-cold war era (1989-2001)

Abstract

Over the years, the developed countries have used aid as a stepping-stone to influence or impact events mainly in the political and economic spheres in the recipient countries. There is the contention that until the beginning of the early 1990s when the Cold War ended with collapse of the Soviet Union, development assistance had been used by the major powers and their allies as a means of procuring allies. Western donors to keep communism at bay, used development aid. It would appear that with the end of the Cold War, belief in the assistance - financed, government-controlled and accumulation-oriented development strategy also finally disappeared. The focus of DCs changed to emphasis on democracy and respect for human rights in all countries in keeping with final document of the UN Conference on the Human Rights held in Vienna, Austria in 1993. There was renewed focus on human rights and poverty reduction. With aid being tied to conditionalities, both political and economic, aid had lost its Cold War justification. Since Western donors could no longer justify aid to their domestic audiences as a tool against communism their foreign policy was now justified on the grounds that it would support democratization programmes in developing countries. Against this background, Denmark's foreign policy of the Post Cold War period sought to promote her security and prosperity based on a set of fundamental values, which encompassed respect for each human being and human rights. Membership of the European Union (EU) was also a key element of this policy. Individually and within the EU, Denmark sought to promote her interests and values pursued through, among other things, development policy. With the altered geopolitical situation following the end of Cold War, Kenya was put under pressure by Denmark and other western donors, to undertake the necessary economic and political reforms before they would continue with development assistance. The political developments and other issues deemed incompatible with Danish foreign policy led to reduction of development assistance to Kenya. These contentious issues were to feature in every Annual Bilateral Consultations between Kenya and Denmark during 1990's. The study seeks to look at the new international system wrought by the end of the Cold War, and its impact on development aid to Africa. The study also assesses the impact of Denmark's foreign policy on Kenya - and specifically it's impact on the development relations between the two countries.