How has globalisation affected the EU's development agenda?
This paper addresses the changing environment produced by globalisation, and how it affects the international development agenda, the concept of a ‘Third World’ and the post colonial approach to international politics. It also asks what the concept of ‘partnership’ between developing countries and the European Union (EU) means in practice.
Globalisation has brought the EU into more complex relations with the rest of the world. The EU’s development policies has had to face global-level problems, including poverty-alleviation, development, failures in governance, conflict and environmental mismanagement. However, addressing these as global problems has not meant the death of the older international development agenda, including aid and regional partnerships such as the Cotonou Agreement
the idea of the Third World as a political and geographical unity has diminished. However, increasing numbers of poor people and poor states still experience the conditions of poverty and marginalisation which characterised the Third World during the Cold War period. Initiatives like the Cotonou Agreement and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) stress that the ownership for development programmes lies mainly with the developing countries, not with the former colonisers. However, the post colonial perspective on slavery, on political and economic dependency is still of value as a complement to an emerging perspective of globalisationthe rhetoric of partnership is powerful in the era of globalisation: from Nato’s Partnership for Peace to the New Partnership for African Development, ‘partnership’ is the international discourse of choice. However, whilst ‘partnership’ appeals to an ideal of equality, equity and harmonious cooperation among states and peoples, it still needs to be realised in practice[adapted from the author]
