The paper focuses on East German aid policies in African countries during the 1950s and 1960s. It claims that, although rejecting in principle the practice of aid “western style” and describing its own assistance to backward countries and national liberation movements as solidarity, with no conditions attached, the GDR ended up adopting contradictory patterns of behaviour. It focuses on the failures of two myths, which were typical for the self-representation of East German solidarity, i.e. the myth of balanced trade and the myth of technology. Through the analysis of the case studies of Mali and of Guinea, it illustrates the limits of pursuing a more balanced trade with Africa. It then moves to describing the failures of GDR development aid, especially in Guinea and in Tanzania, which undermined East German credibility as a donor and seriously threatened its image as a model for modernity.
The Dilemmas of Solidarity: East German Policies in Africa in the Age of Modernization / Lorenzini, Sara. - STAMPA. - 46:(2012), pp. 57-72. (Intervento presentato al convegno 47. Linzer Konferenz der International Conference of Labour and Social History tenutosi a Linz nel 29 settembre - 2 ottobre 2011).
The Dilemmas of Solidarity: East German Policies in Africa in the Age of Modernization
Lorenzini, Sara
2012-01-01
Abstract
The paper focuses on East German aid policies in African countries during the 1950s and 1960s. It claims that, although rejecting in principle the practice of aid “western style” and describing its own assistance to backward countries and national liberation movements as solidarity, with no conditions attached, the GDR ended up adopting contradictory patterns of behaviour. It focuses on the failures of two myths, which were typical for the self-representation of East German solidarity, i.e. the myth of balanced trade and the myth of technology. Through the analysis of the case studies of Mali and of Guinea, it illustrates the limits of pursuing a more balanced trade with Africa. It then moves to describing the failures of GDR development aid, especially in Guinea and in Tanzania, which undermined East German credibility as a donor and seriously threatened its image as a model for modernity.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
Lorenzini_S. 57-72.pdf
Solo gestori archivio
Tipologia:
Versione editoriale (Publisher’s layout)
Licenza:
Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)
Dimensione
77.67 kB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
77.67 kB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione