Ukraine and Africa: the influence of geopolitics on Scandinavian development policies
This article compares and analyses how the war in Ukraine and evolving
geopolitics have impacted on Scandinavian aid policies and disbursement
priorities. We find that there are more similarities than differences among
the Scandinavian donors who have all so far maintained their ODA at 0.7% of
GNI or more, recognising humanitarian and development needs, and probably
reflecting a political awareness of the international recognition this entails.
The impact of geopolitics, however, is still notable and can be seen not only
in a significantly larger share of ODA to Ukraine, but also in the new strategic
focus on Africa and a wish to be visibly present on the continent with political
and economic cooperation, development assistance and private investments.
At the same time, increased aid for Ukraine has meant relatively reduced
allocations for Africa. To some extent though, even in Scandinavia, strategic
or geopolitical concerns seem increasingly to become more important than
concerns for development effectiveness. Such change raises the need for a
debate on what effective development cooperation means in the 2020s.
