Policy versus practice.: Behind the scenes in Dutch development aid, 1949–1989

The history of development aid has often been analyzed on the level of international politics and ground breaking ideas on big overriding issues. But the policies developed in the various Western capitals do not in themselves provide a full picture of foreign aid. It is important to examine the field more closely: what did actually happen ‘on the ground’ as a result of intentions and agreements on aid? Did the practice of aid projects influence aid effectiveness? The present article looks at the history of aid provided by the Netherlands, a country that for a long time liked to portray itself as occupying a guiding role in the vanguard of international development. It is based on archival study of project files, set in countries that were at the core of the Dutch aid effort. They are taken from the time span of four decades in which the aid effort was developed and flourished, before the end of the Cold War changed the scenery in 1989. The article aims to shed new light on how policy aims were translated and provides an indication as to why the desired results failed to come about