Ulterior Motives Embedded in Inclusivity: A Qualitative Content Analysis of the Framing of Economic Development Within Strategies for Swedish Development Cooperation

Strategies for development cooperation are decorated with words of humanitarianism and altruism and are simultaneously influenced by the contemporary world order paradigm. By outlining the current turn in development discourse, the world order is defined as one governed by a turn to deep neoliberalism, which is used as the theoretical framework for this study. The essence of deep neoliberalism encompasses the importance of including poor people and countries in the global economy, connecting it to the enhancement of capitalism and economic development. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how economic development is framed in the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ strategies for development cooperation. Seven strategies of the kind mentioned are used as the data for the analysis, chosen based on their relevance in topicality and content. The study is guided by the research question: How is economic development framed in the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ strategies for development cooperation in relation to the current deep neoliberal turn in development discourse? The study is carried out using an inductive qualitative content analysis. The analysis finds that the Swedish MFA’s strategies largely adhere to the deep neoliberal turn, mainly by promoting inclusion, institutionalization and proletarianization. Finally, it is concluded that development assistance extensively is motivated by donors’ objectives which, in relation to deep neoliberalism, questions the potential of development assistance to ultimately benefit the poor