Altruism, Security and the Impact of Oil: Norways Foreign Economic Assistance Policy, 19581971

Abstract

This article examines the origins of Norwegian development aid in the early 1950s and the institutional structure, the geographic spread and the goals of the Norwegian aid effort until the early 1970s. The article argues that Norwegian aid must be seen as the outcome of broad set of considerations of an altruistic, geopolitical and domestic political nature. Both domestic and international pressures from within the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development contributed to substantially increasing Norwegian foreign economic assistance from modest beginnings. It is argued that oil wealth played a minor role in this transition.

Policy Ideas and North–South Research Cooperation: The Case of Norway

“…During the post–Second World War ascent of developmentalist and modernist ideologies, Norway’s state institutions were characterized by low levels of transnational engagement (van der Veen, 2000). Due to the country’s geographic isolation, low population density, and its relative paucity of economic development until the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1960s, Norway had not historically been in a position to autonomously develop its foreign policy (Neumann, 2007; Pharo, 2003). During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Norway was involved in the United Nations’ development programs, specifically the UN Special Fund for Technical Assistance.…”

The Issue of Mutuality in Canada-China Educational Collaboration

“…Second, CCULP and SULCP were shaped by Canada's post-World War II international development policy toward developing countries. Like Norway and Sweden, Canada tried to establish its role as a middle-power country, rather than a center dealing with peripheries (Trilokekar, 2009;Weiler, 1984;Pharo, 2003). Instead of imposing its own ideology on developing countries or following that of the U.S. capitalist bloc, the Soviet communist bloc or even such multilateral agencies as the World Bank, Canada oriented its international assistance to meeting the development needs of Southern countries at the time.…”