Utviklingspolitikken: En revolusjon er en illusjon?

Abstract

in English Development Policy: Revolution is an Illusion? The Sustainable Development Goals have reinvigorated the debate on whether aid can and should be used to finance global collective goods. In this comment on Nikolai Hegertun’s essay Aid’s Silent Revolution? (En stille revolusjon av utviklingspolitikken), I argue that the statistical definition of aid does not categorically rule out such financing, for which there are precedents; that aid volumes in any case do not tell the full story about the extent and quality of donor efforts; and that many national and regional collective goods – which certainly can be financed by aid – are necessary for the production and enjoyment of global collective goods by individuals living in developing countries. Moreover, we do not know with certainty that traditional aid produces greater welfare improvements in such countries than global collective goods do. It is possible to envisage both that current global challenges will swamp aid and that they will induce international cooperation on an unprecedented scale. However, given the underlying forces of altruism and national self-interest, a gradual change in development policy is more likely than a revolution.