A master thesis from Aalborg University
A humanitarian-development nexus? A discourse analysis on the current Danish focus
Author(s)
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2017
Submitted on
2017-07-30
Pages
72 pages
Abstract
Abstract In our thesis, we are investigating the current focus on the nexus between humanitarian aid and development aid in the light of the new Danish development strategy from 2017 The World 2030. We are investigating the focus through a discourse analysis on conducted interviews from informants from the Danish civil society and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. We argue that the current focus is unique but that the nexus between humanitarian aid and development aid has been a topic of discussion both in Denmark and on an international policy level since the 1990s. We have identified different discourses within international negotiations by analyzing documents and reports from the United Nations and related organizations and argue, that the different focuses on optimizing the work in the nexus are due to international articulations and events. Currently the migration situation and other complex crises of the world are causing a severe underfunding of humanitarian aid, which is visible in the report Too important to fail and initiatives are presented in the action plan Grand Bargain, where the nexus again is being negotiated on an international level. Finally, we argue that the focus in Denmark is highly affected by the international negotiations and articulations and that we at the same time have identified some Danish national interests, which create paradoxes when being connected to the focus of combining humanitarian aid and development aid. We will further reflect on the power relation between the UN and Denmark.
Keywords
Documents
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