The Politics of Development Economics and Peacebuilding: A Postcolonial Global North Hegemonic Agenda?

Abstract

Development economics or international development aid emerged to channel economic resources from the Global North to the developing world for development purposes. Critics have drawn attention to how development economics or international development aid and the more recent approaches to peacebuilding have become conservative if not neo-colonial enterprises. The imperialist/colonies’ interaction had existed before and served as harbingers of, the donor/recipient interaction. There is still great suspicion among critics that there has not been any significant departure from this historic past and “colonial” mindset, and what characterize today’s economic aid transactional dynamics. Through secondary data analysis and archival studies, the paper explains the classic narratives of internationalization of development economic aid, the original design, and objectives, the praxis, benefits or outcomes for the Global North, and the implications for the developing world (Global South). The methodology engages the various critical approaches to international development and where these neo-colonial sentiments may have originated from as well as the informing rationale.