Preserving interventionism: how professionalisation secures the survival of electoral assistance

The presentation addresses the puzzle why aid continues even when it achieves its proclaimed ends at the example of electoral assistancein Africa. It presented a story about the synergy between an aid sector and the emergence of a transnational profession. The paper argues that electoral assistance has persisted not despite but because of its success: Professionalization adds a new twist to the classical problem of aid dependency as it extends the provision of assistance beyong poor countries that lack resources and capacity to fulfil basic services.