Is partnership (still) necessary to move away from neocolonialism and to enhance international solidarity in a context of global crisis?

• In Event: Views on "Development" Dynamics

Abstract

Is partnership (still) necessary to move away from neocolonialism and to enhance international solidarity in a context of global crisis?

Many critical approaches about partnership in the context of international cooperation, address various aspects of partnership, including its ubiquity, significance, challenges, as well as its paradoxes and potential drawbacks. From a macro-sociological viewpoint (Knorr-Cetina, 1981), partnership has become a central element of international cooperation, and its diverse definitions highlight notions such as equality among partners, respect for differences, trust, interdependence, common purpose, and the creation of joint projects. Consequently, these definitions of partnership carry normative connotations, implicitly defining what constitutes a "good" partnership, and most importantly, a partnership approach can sometimes gloss-over Noth-South power dynamics and inequalities in the international aid industry (Pirotte, 2021).

In a world context hit by consecutive economic and political and consequently social crises, is partnership still an essential vehicle to move away from neocolonialism and face the new global problems? From a non-normative perspective, can partnership be a negotiated relationship between Northern and Southern social actors? The possible responses to those questions require both a macro-sociological analysis as well as a micro-sociological analysis. The latter means an empirically grounded focus considering the experiences of North and South social actors working together on the ground-level of international cooperation.

Indeed, at a micro-sociological level, partnerships in international cooperation can be seen as an arena where power dynamics are negotiated, shedding light on how North-South power dynamics manifest in the relationships between social actors. Indeed, when focused on micro-social situations (Knorr-Cetina, 1981), it is possible to explore the concept of partnership, highlighting the paradoxes and criticisms surrounding it, especially concerning equality and power dynamics between non-governmental organizations (NGOs). As NGOs the North and the South engaged in long-term relationships, it is possible to understand how Northern NGOs exert coercive power as funders, and how this power is deliberately diluted in their negotiations with Southern NGOs to maintain long-term relations. Southern NGOs, on the other hand, rely on the moral and pragmatic legitimacy of their grassroots groups to negotiate with NNGOs, thereby strengthening their position vis-à-vis their Northern partners/funders (Navarro-Flores, 2009).

By using an original typology of North-South relationships between NGOs, our aim is to introduce the concept of power arbitration mechanisms and how Northern and Southern actors use it to balance North-South power dynamics while building long-term partnerships. By revisiting an old sociological debate within international cooperation, our analysis will contribute to understanding how actors in the North and South contribute to destigmatize the power roles and power dynamics. Theoretically and methodologically, this paper will shed some light on a) how North-South social actors compose, propose, and change their power dynamics, and b) how these actors, moving beyond the egalitarian rhetoric and the neocolonial discourse, respond to local social consequences of global crises, one compromise at a time.

References

Coordination Sud. 2023. PLF 2024 : Un changement de cap à l’heure où les indicateurs de développement plongent dans le rouge ? (Ser. Financement du développement), septembre 2023, from https://www.coordinationsud.org/document-ressource/programme-209-solidarite-avec-les-pays-en-developpement/.

Knorr, K. D., Knorr-Cetina, K., Krohn, R. G., Whitley, R., Krohn, R. G., & Whitley, R. (1981). The social process of scientific investigation (Ser. Sociology of the sciences : a yearbook, v. 4). D. Reidel.

Navarro-Flores, O. (2009). Le partenariat en coopération internationale paradoxe ou compromis? (Ser. Collection pratiques et politiques sociales et économiques). Presses de l'Université du Québec. Retrieved 2023, from https://www.puq.ca/catalogue/livres/partenariat-cooperation-internationale-1643.html.

Pirotte, G. (2007). La notion de société civile (Ser. Collection repères ; sciences politiques, droit, 482). La Découverte. Retrieved 2023, from http://www.cairn.info/la-notion-de-societe-civile--9782707146946.htm.

Pirotte, G. (2021). Sociologie de la coopération internationale: acteurs, enjeux et débats. DE BOECK SUPERIEUR. Retrieved 2023, from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=3276269.

Authors

• Olga Navarro-Flores, Universite du Quebec a Montreal - UQAM

• Gautier Pirotte, Uliège-Faculté de Sciences Sociales