The Short Cut to International Development: Representing Africa in 'New Britain'

Author(s): Marcus Power

Source: Area, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Mar., 2000), pp. 91-100
Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20004040
Accessed: 07-02-2017 20:17 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is collaborating
with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Area

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Area (2000) 32.1, 91-1 00

The Short cut to international development:

representing Africa in 'New Britain'
Marcus Power
Marcus Power, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT.
Email: marcus@geog.leeds.ac.uk

Revised manuscript received 1 March 1999.

Summary Under New Labour, the British Department for International Development
(DFID) promises a radical and alternative new 'development agenda' and, more specifically,
an end to 'development handouts. The short cut to international development envisioned
by Secretary of State Clare Short is explored in this paper, as is the 'messy' contextuality of
writing about development in 'New Britain'. This paper raises questions about New
Labour's discussion of the 'moral authority' for international development in 'post-colonial'
Britain, particularly in light of the recent 'arms-to-Africa' affair involving Britain and Sierra
Leone. The paper argues that Britannia's neoliberal vision of development is not so 'cool'
and that, in ethical terms, the development of foreign policy toward Africa has not been
consistent. In conclusion, the paper raises doubts about the likelihood of world poverty
being halved by 2015 (as the DFID has confidently predicted).

Introduction: 'apologizing for history' to position 'New Britain' as a potential 'world leader
in-waiting' for the twenty-first century, a 'beacon to
I am arguing for politics and epistemologies of location,
the world' (in the words of Tony Blair's address to
positioning and situating, where partiality and not uni
the annual party conference in October 1997:
versality is the condition of being heard to make rational
Sunday Times 1997, 6). For Blair, 'New Britain' leads
knowledge claims. (Haraway 1991, 589)
the world in creativity as the 'design workshop of the
In apologizing to the people of Ireland for the potato world'; moreover, in ideological terms, New Labour
famine' (though not for the deaths of 13 rioters in sees Britain as spearheading a contemporary inter
Londonderry on 'Bloody Sunday' in 1972) on behalf national 'vanguard' movement and consensus of
of the British government in July 1997, New Labour 'centre-left' ideas (Guardian 1998a, 3). In one inter
raised some interesting questions about the view in Washington, Mr Blair identified President
responsibility of successive British state administra Fernando Henrique Cardoso as one world leader
tions for histories of colonialism and famine in with whom New Labour had already formed such a
Ireland and, by implication, elsewhere in the British consensus:
empire. Why (and how) in 1997 should citizens of He's a very interesting guy. He came to see me in
'New Britain' feel responsible for the legacies of London a while back and gave me a copy of my
Britain's imperial heritage? On the back of a landslide speeches in Portuguese that have been published in
general election victory on 1 May 1997, the New Brazil with an introduction by him. I got the introduction
Labour government has set about pronouncing the translated and I was really amazed when I realized that
birth of a new nation, remade and reborn as 'New this guy was talking the same language. It was straight
Britain', freed (by belated apology) from the entrails down-the-line New Labour. (Tony Blair, quoted in
Guardian 1998a, 3)
of its colonial past.
Rebranded and given a boosterist advertising Mr Blair and New Labour have been particularly
marketability by the phrase 'Cool Britannia',2 the keen to construct 'New Britain' as a 'young country',
New Labour government has frequently attempted a nation reborn under their stewardship, urging New

ISSN 0004-0894 ? Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) 2000

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
92 Power

Britons to cherish their traditions and cultural herit nation to join the British Commonwealth, immedi
age and not to live in the past but rather in 'a country ately receiving ?22 million in bilateral aid contribu
that is not resting on past glories but hungry for tions from Britain in its first full year of membership
future success' (Tony Blair, quoted in Guardian (FCO 1997, 10).4 According to the FCO, the 53
1 997a, 1 7). Using the platforms provided by Britain's member states of the Commonwealth are held
headship of G7, European Union and Common together by 'common historical connections',
wealth summits, the government has attempted to though it is difficult to see where Mozambique
dismantle the image of Britain that Foreign and fits into this since no other member state has
Commonwealth Office (FCO) surveys have told endured five centuries of Portuguese colonial
them is widely held abroad, where: 'underdevelopment':
The special strength of this diverse association of
perceptions remained of the country being rooted in its
nations lies in its shared heritage of language, culture
colonial past, living on its heritage, hamstrung by a
and the rule of law which has grown out of its common
divisive class system and, even after Thatcherite
historical connections. (FCO 1997, 2)
revolution, prone to industrial relations conflict and
industrial mis-management. (Sunday Times 1997, 6) Few countries have witnessed the end of colonial
ism, revolution and counter-revolution in such a
Apologizing for particular episodes of colonialism compressed period and with such violent conse
and famine from Britain's imperial past seemed to be quences as Mozambique (Sidaway and Power
New Labour's way of sending a signal that the 1995).5 The origins and trajectories of the war raise
country was no longer stuck in the past nor confined important questions about the histories that are
to its heritage, but freed from all this by a conscien ascribed to Africa and Africans by Western social
tious group of 'centre-left' modernizers with a vision science (McClintock 1992; Power 1998). Theories of
for the twenty-first century. In the same year as Mr development have often effaced African histories in
Blair's apology was read in Ireland, the Czech articulating an overwhelming concern for the histori
government apologized for the expulsion of Sudetan cal experience of the 'developed' (Luke 1991). This
Germans in the Second World War, the Germans paper seeks to explore some of the historical condi
apologized to the Czechs for the invasion of 1938 tions and contexts in which the contemporary writ
and the US government apologized to African ing of geographies of development in Africa are
Americans for oppressive medical experiments and situated and how these are relevant to 'politics and
enslavement (Independent 1997). These recent epistemologies of location, positioning and situating'
'apologies for history', or expressions of regret by a (Haraway 1991, 589). Can writing about space and
variety of Western political leaders for the actions of power in African development produce 'situated
their predecessors, should be seen as historically histories' in a way that is both sensitive to African
situated acts, rooted in a particular present, with its diversity and difference and at the same time 'radical
implied vantage point on history. and relevant' (Mohan 1998)? Looking for inspiration
The way in which the discourse of development under New Labour, does Britain have an 'Africa
has been practised and 'institutionalized' (Escobar policy' (Styal, cited in Allen 1998), or could it be said
1992) can be shown partly to condition what is that this consists more of ignorance than of an
ultimately written about development and what are explicit code of ethics? How is New Labour's script
constructed as its 'truths' (Escobar 1995). The emer ing of African affairs relevant to the contemporary
gence of New Labour and the symbolic renaming of writing of African development and geopolitical
the Overseas Development Administration (ODA)3 space?
as the Department for International Development
(DFID) provides a useful case in point, which will be
considered in this paper. In particular, the first sec The politics of knowledge
tion of the paper examines New Labour's attempted
rethinking of British development politics as an [Ilt is probably correct to say that it does not finally
example of one contemporary context shaping the matter who wrote what, but rather how it is written and
politics of writing in 'New Britain' about Africa and how it is read. (Said 1991, 23)
African development in the late 1 990s.
This paper looks at the case study of Mozambique, Writing about development in Africa in the late
which in 1995 became the first non-English-speaking 1990s, it is difficult not to be struck by the marked

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Short cut to international development 93

incoherence and in some ways irrelevance of a great (Wallerstein 1991). Even the new British DFID
deal of contemporary theorizations of development. quickly realized that there was growing disillusion
The 'lost decade of development' in the 1 980s and ment and disaffection in 'New Britain', with widening
the 'impasse' in development theory that emerged global inequalities and the capacity of development
from the same period have engendered an increas organizations to provide solutions. In proclaiming
ingly widespread feeling that 'development stinks' her own declaration of 'New Britain' in a speech
(Esteva 1992, 135). To say this, however, is to say given at the Commonwealth Institute in June 1997,
nothing of how the odour can be removed (Crush Clare Short declared:
1995), or about the fact that development has not
For my own country, I want to create a new form of
and will not always (universally) be considered odor
patriotism. Out of our complex history-all the bad and
ous. Many recent attempts to (re)write the history of
good of it, and the role it leaves us with on the
development have failed to question fully-or even international stage want us to do all we can to mobilize
acknowledge-their own historical situatedness. the political will for poverty elimination. (Short
Thus, whilst it is important to consider the impor 1997a, 15)
tance of 'how something is written and how it is
read' (Said 1991), we might also argue that the It is New Labour's definition of Britain's role on the
importance of where and when something is written international stage that is interesting here. The new
(and read) is not insignificant. Consequently, many Secretary of State has spoken repeatedly of the need
such accounts have adopted a rather restrictive to 'mobilize the political will', which is seen as widely
historicity for the 'invention' of development (Rist lacking, particularly amongst an apparently increas
1997), suggesting that it has been solely a post ingly uncharitable and indifferent British public. How
ever, this has to be seen in the context of the
Second World War enterprise (pioneered by a 'first
world'). Such accounts have thus failed to see the inactivity of the previous Conservative administration
longer and wider historico-geographical associations of the ODA, which reversed long-standing aid policy
that the idea has acquired. objectives in favour of a variety of British 'political,
The institutional practice of development has commercial and industrial interests' (German and
today lost much of its (public) authority and respect Randall 1993; Hook 1995) and reduced British aid
in some of the world's wealthier aid-contributing contributions by one-third (Brown and O'Connor
countries. At the 'One World '98' conference in June 1996, 95). Interestingly, in the first few months of its
1998, for example, Secretary of State for Inter operation, the DFID has been quick to associate
national Development, Clare Short, blamed the itself with existing international development targets
British media for a 'dumbing down' of international (and in pointing up the failures of its predecessor so
development issues in the minds of the British public, to do), committing itself to following the UN policy
a challenge backed by experienced broadcaster on aid provision (07 per cent of GDP) and the
Jonathan Dimbleby who chaired the event: OECD target of a 50 per cent reduction in world
poverty by the year 2015 (DFID 1 997).6
Thus the so-called 'developing' world, where develop New Labour has thus bought into the well
ment is in many respects standing still or drifting established practice of using statistics in a 'politics of
backwards, has become a backdrop for cookery pro
development labelling' (Wood 1985). Whole areas
grammes and adventure holidays, or occasional
of the 'global South' are labelled 'poor' or suffering
'expos6s' in that voguish form of tele-reportage that
titillates the viewer with tales of violent crime, drug 'deprivation'. Poverty becomes the defining charac
busts or child prostitution. (Jonathan Dimbleby, quoted teristic for 'the South', and its conditions and conse
in Guardian 1 998c, 9) quences are universalized. As Morag Bell (1994,
184) has put it,
As questions are asked more widely about the
In emphasising what people are deprived of (as is
relevance of academic research into African devel
implied by poverty), they [statistics] impose a negative
opment, as aid agencies complain of 'compassion uniformity upon non-Western societies. As objects of
fatigue' amongst donors and as evidence mounts study poor people become categories and are labelled
about the 'non-development' of the first fifty years of as an homogeneous group.
state practice, it is becoming increasingly clear that
development has lost much of its power and popu Many development interventions are remarkably
larity as an idea, or its luminosity as a 'lodestar' short-sighted in their assessments of when develop

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
94 Power

ment will reach predicted levels at certain times (and international role in which all people of Britain could
these guestimates are notoriously inaccurate). Such take pride. (DFID 1997, 3)
confident expressions of belief in the power of
development over short spaces of time often reveal Unfortunately
a many British aid agencies, whilst sup
poorly developed understanding of history and ofporting DFID's concern for policy coherence across
government departments, have not exactly been
historical social forces and pressures. Moreover, they
have become a symptom of the growing dominance'proud' of their government's efforts. 'We give this
of neoliberal thinking in the development industry,white paper one out of ten' claimed Harriet Lamb of
with its typical concern for performance indicatorsthe World Development Movement. The Liberal
and measurable progress towards specified targets. Democrat Dr Jenny Tongue argued that the paper
Even though the DFID does not actually commit was strong on words but not on action and admitted
itself to halving world poverty by 2015, it does wantto being 'worried about the number of times the
word encourage is used and how little we see
to play a part in the 'noble' and 'moral' task of
reducing the number of people living in absolutecommitment to actual process' (Guardian 1 997b, 3).
poverty (60 per cent of Mozambicans accordingIn addition to seeking to follow established inter
to a 1992 estimate: World Bank 1992, 113) in national
a development targets, the DFID has also
startlingly short space of time: been quick to express its support for a number of
loosely defined objectives arising from the major
my aim is that we should eliminate aid and I hope that global development conferences of the 1990s (Rio
within 25-30 years from now both the aid programme 1992 on the environment; Cairo 1994 on popula
and my Department will be closed down because our tion; Copenhagen 1995 on social development and
basic task has been accomplished. (Short 1 997b, 4) human rights; Beijing 1996 on women and develop
ment). Thus, whilst the white paper frequently men
The DFID white paper Eliminating world poverty: tions a the need to tailor development assistance to
challenge for the 21st century (DFID 1997) is recipient
a countries in a way that recognizes differ
document specifically designed by New Labour toence (historical and cultural), there are also a number
be taken as a 'landmark' historical statement about of vague and underspecified development ideals
British relations and policies towards the 'poor' anduncritically adopted from the UN and neoliberal
'developing' nations. Strong on rhetoric and presen development organizations such as the International
tation and weak on the substantive issues raised by Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (Bretton
policy objectives and the means to implement them, Woods Project 1998). The importance of the World
Bank's (1 997) World Development Report and other
the document deliberately sets out to align itself with
a particular historical moment and the very latestcanons of neoliberal orthodoxy to the ideas drawn
knowledges of development. Replete with the devel upon in the white paper is somewhat alarming:
opment buzzwords and phraseology of today
(environmental conservation and sustainability, gen Its position on these debates seems to be strongly
der equalities, participation/empowerment, good underpinned by the international neo-liberal consensus
associated with the major multilateral countries and the
state-market relations and 'good governance'),7 the
G7 countries-the recommended route to poverty
DFID white paper seeks to position the British state
reduction is by direct income growth among the poor
as global broker of the most harmonious and rather than redistribution of wealth, either internally or
'sustainable' development, drawing upon the very internationally. As a result, there seems to be little that is
latest ideals for development circulating within the conceptually new or operationally radical to offer.
'development industry'. (Gould 1998, iv)
The white paper, a Labour manifesto pledge,
anchors itself in the government's wider approach to This lack of anything 'conceptually new or operation
'Britain's unique role in the world' (DFID 1997, 3)ally radical to offer' is deeply characteristic of many
and frequently refers in deeply patriotic terms to debates a about development today. In the empty
'moral duty' to help the poor: promises of global poverty reduction, it can be seen
that development is profoundly rhetorical, lacking in
Our particular history places us on the fulcrum of globalsubstantive alternatives to neoliberalism. Moreover,
influence. Helping to lead the world in a commitment todevelopment is an easy objective for New Labour to
poverty elimination and sustainable development is anidentify for a deindustrializing and decolonizing

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Short cut to international development 95

twenty-first century 'New Britain' (with a largely object, an object which has 'evolved' as a result of a
'neoliberal' agenda) in its relations with the 'poorer past history. Despite the centrality of the idea of
members of the global community'. development (the historical development of capital
An interesting comparison can be drawn here ism) to Marx's ideas, his writing retained an import
between the languages used to articulate New ant sense of the 'rootedness' of his work in a
Labour's 'landmark historical statement' on British historical present, at a particular stage in the 'evolu
development assistance in 1997 and the vision of tion of capitalism'. For Marx, it followed that every
development outlined by the Labour government operation of knowledge, starting from the present
that took office in October 1945, also after a land and applied to an 'evolved' object, frequently
slide victory. Arthur Creech-Jones was appointed amounts to the projection of the present onto the
parliamentary under-secretary and later Secretary of past of that object:
State to the Colonial Office (responsible for admin
istering colonial development), and the following Historical development so-called generally depends on
description of post-war development policy is the fact that the latest form treats the past forms as
extracted from his essay on 'The Labour Party and stages leading up to itself, and, as it is itself only rarely
and under very specific circumstances able to criticize
colonial policy':
itself ... it always conceives them unilaterally. (Marx
1857, 26, emphasis in original)
After the war, conditions required that colonial admin
istrations should help the territories to adjust themselves
to the rigours of a different and more modern life. The It could be argued that it has historically been a
immediate task of a Government was obviously to central objective of much research and writing about
development to presume the status of the 'latest
inspire these men with the hope that, as never before,
London would give them the tools for their work, form' of development knowledge, with previous
encourage them to evolve a wider conception of their advances in modernity, science and technology lead
functions and responsibilities, and help them to plan ing up to a 'current' progression of enlightenment. It
economic and social development. London could assist is this rather limited ('unilateral') conception of his
them in their work of extending popular participation in
torical development that Marx bemoans in his asser
public affairs, of furthering education, and building up
tion about the lack of self-criticism and reflexivity. In
for the people better standards of social life. (Arthur
Creech Jones, cited in ODI 1964, 31) the first volume of Capital, Marx further considered
the relationship between historical development and
This desire to show the subjects of British develop what he called the 'science of history', making the
ment that 'London would give them the tools' and important recognition that:
assist or encourage their adjustment to development
Man's [sic] reflection on the forms of social life, and
expresses some of the dominant perspectives on
consequently, also, his scientific analysis of those forms,
colonialism, development and modernization that
takes a course directly opposite to the real movement. It
shaped the early post-war formulation of British begins, post festum, with already established givens,
(colonial) development policy. Some of the ideals with the results of the development. (Marx 1954, 75)
expressed by the Colonial Office closely resemble
the objectives of the DFID, since both attempt an Marx's writings appear to suggest that the object of
'invention of development', promising ('as never all the social and historical sciences is an 'evolved'
before') to pursue a global programme of develop object, a result, but also that the activity of knowing
ment and change. The languages and knowledges that is applied to this object is defined by the current
that inform each invention and reinvention of devel moment. This aspect of Marx's writing highlights the
opment are complex and dynamic, however, and 'contemporaneity' of the 'historical present' as some
partly reflect the priorities and perspectives of their thing that defines historically and defines as historical
respective historical situatedness.8 the conditions for all knowledge concerning an
historical object (Althusser 1968). It is important to
consider the implications of this 'contemporaneity'
Contemporaneity and contextuality
of the historical present for the ways in which the
In his 1857 Introduction, Karl Marx argued that every writing of geographies of development proceeds
'science' of a historical object (and political economy today. 'Critical geography' in the 1990s, it could be
in particular) applies to a given, present, historical argued, signifies a much wider range of social theory

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
96 Power

than was the case, for example, in the 1 960s, when be read off as some simple and objective 'space-time
development geographers explored the 'spatial coordinate', but rather, as O'Tuathail (1 996) has
impress' of the modernization process in Africa and argued in his discussion of the 'messy historical
often obtained a rather narrow conception of the con-textuality' of writing global political space:
ways in which social relations generate specific
geographies. As Smith and Godlewska (1994, 3) Geopolitics in all its forms ... is best studied in its messy
point out, since then, historical con-textuality. The notion of context, how
ever, should not be commanded by a dominant referent
Beginning with Marxist and feminist work in the early or transcendental signified. Context is not a pure orig
1 970s, many geographers have become intensely inal point, an objective space-time co-ordinate, or a final
engaged with the gamut of social theories: poststructur resting place. (O'Tuathail 1996, 72)
alism and postmodernism, the Frankfurt school and
postcolonial theory-together with reformulated One possibly problematic aspect of the use of
Marxisms and feminisms-[which] have all enriched the Derridean deconstruction practices in the study of
rediscovery of histories of geography. development is that rather narrow definitions of the
textuality of development might come to predomi
As Shanin (1997, 70) has observed of a number of nate. Questions of social and political change or of
recent histories of development discourses, what has state development practice cannot easily be reduced
often been lacking is that 'everything is turned to matters of literary ideology and discourse
relative except relativity itself'. These newer historical
(O'Tuathail 1996). The textuality of development
accounts of development have often failed to needs to be engaged with but preferably in addition
acknowledge or understand their own historical situ to a concern for the historical, geographical and
atedness, at the same time as criticizing the tendency sociological contexts in which texts emerge and gain
toward dehistoricization that seems so inherent to meaning. Additionally, a realization needs to be
discourses of development. Confidently pronounc made that the sources of theoretical inspiration for
ing the 'death of development' as a 'blunder of such contributions (important though they have
planetary proportions', many commentators seem to been in recent attempts to radicalize development)
have underestimated the continuing prominence have to be seen as emerging from a particular time
and ambition of the 'development industry', and its and space.9 In an important contribution entitled
deeper temporal and spatial foundations. Indeed, the Travelling theory, Edward Said (1984, 234) makes a
very notion of a 'development industry' or 'develop useful observation about the situatedness of all
ment machine' (Ferguson 1990), though effectively theory:
conveying the political and economic reproduction
of development practice today, might even have Theory has to be grasped in the place and time out of
encouraged such a dehistoricized view of develop which it emerges . .. [no theory] exhausts the situation
ment as 'monolith'. As Simon (1998, 221) observes, out of which it emerges or to which it is transported.

many poststructuralist critics of conventional develop The question of how writing is 'class conditioned' is
ment(alism) ... still need to take far greater account of another important if neglected theme in any attempt
the differences in objectives, policy, and practice among
to understand the situatedness of writing. In the
the various official bilateral and multilateral donors,
important work Writers in politics, Ngugi Wa
especially during the 1 970s and 1 980s.
Thiongo (1981) outlines his understanding of how
writers forge and negotiate class (and cultural)
In attempting to understand some of the historical
politics in a particularly instructive manner:
contexts and conditions under which writing about
development is influenced by particular social forces
[writing] as a creative process and also as an end is
and pressures (such as the practice of development),
conditioned by historical social forces and pressures: it
it is important to retain an inclusive conception of
cannot elect to stand above or to transcend economics,
context, not as 'pure' and 'original' but as open politics, class, race, or what [Chinua] Achebe calls 'the
and with indeterminate limits (Derrida 1982). For burning issues of the day' ... A writer after all comes
Derrida, writing is about absence, deferral and delay, from a particular class and race and nation. He [sic]
and this therefore calls into question our conven himself is a product of an actual social process-eating,
tional definitions of context. Context cannot easily drinking, learning, loving, hating-and he has developed

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Short cut to international development 97

a class attitude to those activities, themselves class weapons supply, British officials dispatched arms to a
conditioned. (Ngugi Wa Thiongo 1981, 6) militia group and apparently only bothered to tell
ministers late in the day. How could this be
To acknowledge that some 'burning issues of the described as an 'ethical' position on African affairs
day' burn more brightly (at different times and in
(Amnesty International 1998; Human Rights Watch
different places) than others is to open a space for 1 998)?
thinking about the situatedness of writing.
This paper has attempted to show that the histori
cal situatedness of writing about development in
Africa is 'messy' and complicated. The multiple arti
Conclusion: rethinking 'alms-to-Africa'
ficial separations of writing and research from geo
As I said to the Labour Party a few years ago, we must graphical space and time cannot be accounted for
modernize or die. (Tony Blair speaking at a summit of by a simple acknowledgement of authorial 'position
European socialist parties in Amsterdam, quoted in ality'. The relationships between academic knowl
Marqusee 1997, 127) edges of development and the political power that
underscores the practice of development are com
Ngugi Wa Thiongo's own country of birth, Kenya, plicated but form an important part of the contextu
represents one of a number of examples where New ality of writing about Africa. In considering the
Labour could be accused of 'a pitiful indifference to history of development as a discourse, many recent
African affairs' (Young 1997, cited in Allen 1998). accounts have tended to view these relationships as
Media images of Cape Town police firing on dem primarily about a struggle for (textual) representation.
onstrators during the arrival of Tony Blair at an award It is important, however, to insist on a wider concep
ceremony in South Africa in January 1999 were tion of development when considering its historical
further evidence of the recent failures of New situatedness, not just as textual systems of knowl
Labour's 'beacon' to the African world (Times edge but also as material and economic arrange
1999a). Allen (1998, 405) also points out recent ments for the (re)production of knowledge. This in
'equivocation over Britain's already weak stance on turn can be related to the broader emergence in
Nigeria', where he discerns a repeated failure on the recent years of a number of histories of geography
part of FCO officials to grasp the nature of the that consider the 'situated messiness' of geographi
Nigerian state or wider African histories of state cal knowledges (Driver 1995; Livingstone 1992;
formation. WGSG 1997) as well as the 'material circumstances
According to a Saferworld report in June 1998, through which ideas take root' (Driver 1995, 41 1).
Britain's new 'ethical' government has issued over New Labour and the DFID are consciously
2000 licences for arms exports to China, Indonesia, attempting to project an image of Britain as
India, Pakistan, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe being reborn free of an imperial past and well
and several other states not known for their respect placed to provide a 'world-leading' package of devel
of human rights (Saferworld 1999). The 'arms to opment assistance in the twenty-first century. In
Sierra Leone affair' has surely been the biggest Mozambique, Britain has extended its influence in
blunder of the New Labour administration in relation 'national' affairs considerably since the country
to Africa, though the Party did stop short of claiming became a Commonwealth member state in 1995.10
the episode as a success for British exports. Culmi The DFID's Mozambique: country strategy paper
nating in an expensive and damaging public inquiry, (DFID 1998) is replete with development statistics
this affair centres on a US$10 million shipment of that measure or target growth in the vaguest of
arms to Sierra Leone to aid President Ahmed Tejan terms, such as the confident assertion in the opening
Kabbah's bid to restore his government ousted by a paragraph that 'the economy is growing at about
military coup. A Whitehall inquiry found that High 8%'. Eight per cent of what exactly? Surely it cannot
Commissioner Peter Penfold (who commissioned be suggested that this 'growth' is occurring across
the purchase from Sandline International) had Mozambican society and space? The DFID's
'exceeded his authority' (Guardian 1998b, 14). The explanation of urban poverty is even more
FCO promptly announced 60 'new measures' to questionable:
increase its effectiveness, though ministers and
senior officials have claimed exoneration in the Urban poverty is largely caused by lack of household
inquiry. Nonetheless, despite a UN embargo on labour (caused by war or migration) or extremely low

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
98 Power

wages. Lack of employment is a lesser factor. (DFID2 The superficiality of the Labour Party's contacts with the
1998, 2) contemporary British pop music scene (with reference to
which the term 'Cool Britannia' was first derived) was
Many urban Mozambicans would not agree with this exposed at the Britannia Music Awards in February
description of a lack of employment opportunities as 1999. In seeking to raise awareness for the Jubilee 2000
a 'lesser factor' and it must be remembered that campaign against debt repayment, many musicians were
critical of the government's position and lack of radical
unemployment, low wages and labour shortages are
agendas (Guardian 1999).
consequences of wider capitalist processes that are
3 The ODA was created as the Ministry of Overseas
consistently overlooked here. The specific character
Development in 1964 as one of the first acts of a
istics of capitalist development in Mozambique previous Labour government. It was symbolically
are accounted for simply by reference to an array renamed the DFID during the first weekend in office of
of superficial statistical indicators, which have a the present Labour government (Gould 1998).
tendency to homogenize the Mozambican poor. 4 The DFID has described Britain as a 'middle-ranking' aid
Writing about poverty in Mozambique from the donor to Mozambique, but has also stated its intention
space of a British institutional environment at a to double bilateral contributions by 2001 from its current
particular historical moment also seemed critically level of ?30 million (of which about ?20 million is
Programme Aid) (DFID 1998).
relevant to my own representation of the country
5 Almost immediately after the coming to power of Frelimo
and its past. Not wishing to identify with the rep
and the cessation of anti-colonial war, Mozambique
resentation of this space as 'cool' or 'New Britannic'
suffered an externally instigated counter-revolution medi
and wanting to contest New Labour's scripting of ated through the rebel Resistencia Nacional Mocambi
Africa as a space for (neoliberal) development, a cana. By the mid-1980s, the war between Frelimo and
number of questions need to be raised about this Renamo had reduced much of Mozambique to chaos,
'contemporaneity' and its representation by New greatly weakening the state and devastating society
Labour. The discourse of development has histori (Egero 1987).
cally deployed 'a truly amazing conceptual arsenal' 6 For an interesting review of OECD aid contributions,
(Said 1993, 290), which has mesmerized strategic which carefully examines the changing social forces and
pressures influencing OECD objectives, see Luke (1996).
planners and policy 'experts' for decades (Doty
The OECD (1997) report Shaping the twenty-first century
1996). At the end of their first year in office, New
is referenced on numerous occasions in the DFID white
Labour and the DFID did appear somewhat be paper, some of whose objectives seem to have been
wildered. The DFID white paper Eliminating world inspired by OECD targets.
poverty'talks the talk' of sensitive implementation of 7 These buzzwords are bandied about by international
'radical' development assistance without ever really development organizations (particularly amongst many
showing any substantive understanding of the com UN development bureaucracies) with remarkable ease
plex situations of instability and conflict that have and frequency, yet betray a wider absence of a substan
already served to illustrate (particularly in Sierra tive understanding of the issues involved or of any real
Leone)11 just how much further this supposedly alternatives to 'mainstream' development.
energetic and 'ethical' British state has to go in 8 Gilbert and Steel (1945, 125), writing at the beginning of
the same period in the 'invention of development' as the
understanding the landmarks of real significance in
Secretary of State to the Colonial Office, urged that '[aill
African experiences of development.
colonial governments should command the services of a
trained geographer among their officers, one who knows
Notes
the country'. The involvement of geographers in colonial
1 The apology was made at the controversial Great Famine state development planning in Africa was considered
Commemoration event held in Millstreet, County Cork, particularly important in the first 15 years after the
where a letter from Prime Minister Tony Blair was read Second World War (Farmer 1973; 1983; Forbes 1984;
by Irish actor Gabriel Byrne. In the letter, Blair spoke of Power 1998) and became part of the clamour for
the British government's failure to intervene during the 'regional' and 'area studies' disciplines.
Irish famine, which became 'a massive human tragedy'9 This work has not, however, been as Northern-centric or
with the resultant deaths of 'one million people in Eurocentric as many unsympathetic commentators
what was then part of the richest, most powerful nation would have us believe. As Simon (1998, 228) puts it,
in the world' (Celtic Connection 1997, 4). A further one There is a substantial volume of postmodern writing
million people were forced to emigrate, many of whom emanating from other regions, notably Australasia
perished on the 'coffin ships' that were to carry them to and Latin America and by Northern-based scholars
freedom. originally from the South.

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Short cut to international development 99

10 The BBC began a new 'BBC FM Maputo' service in the Doty L (1996) Imperial encounters: the politics of represen
Mozambican capital in 1998 (Power 1999) and Clare tation in North-South relations (University of Minnesota
Short gave a television interview to BBC journalists in Press, Minneapolis)
Maputo recently (screened on the Six o'clock news on Driver F (1995) 'Sub-merged identities: familiar and un
27 July), in which she claimed that Mozambique would familiar histories' Transactions of the Institute of British
become 'a model of participatory development'
through British development assistance.
11 The return of British troops to the coast of Sierra Leone
in January with the arrival of HMS Norfolk was
described by The Times as a 'mercy mission', as Britain
was providing vehicles and communications equipment
and other forms of 'non-lethal' hardware (BBC 1999).
ECOMOG commander General Shelpidi spoke of
being able to 'rout the rebels' (Times 1999b) with
helicopter gunships, as Britain's 'ethical stance' was Esteva G (1992) 'Development' in Sachs W (ed) The
defined purely as the source of technological hardware
necessary to restore democracy.
References
Allen C (1998) 'Britain's Africa policy: ethical or ignorant?'
Review of African Political Economy 77, 405-7
Althusser L (1968) 'Marxism is not a historicism' in
Althusser L and Balibar (eds) Reading capital (Lawrence
and Wishart, London), 119-45
Amnesty International (1998) 'Sierra Leone 1998-a
year of atrocities against civilians' (www.amnesty.org/
ailib/aipub/1 998/AFR/1 5102298.htm) Accessed 10
November
BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) (1999) 'World:
Africa Major rebel attack in Sierra Leone'
(news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/
newsid 2777000/277591.stm) Accessed 11 February
Bell M (1994) 'Images, myths and alternative geographies
of the third world' in Gregory D, Martin R and Smith G
(eds) Human geography: society, space and social science
(Macmillan, Basingstoke), 174-99
Bretton Woods Project (1998) Drowning by numbers: the
IMF, the World Bank and North-South financial flows
(BWP, London)
Brown M L and O'Connor J M (1996) 'Cross-pressures in
Western European foreign aid' in Hook S (ed) Foreign aid
toward the millennium (Reinner, London), 91-108
Celtic Connection (1997) 'Letter from Tony Blair seen as
famine apology' July, 4
Crush J (ed) (1995) Power of development (Routledge,
London)
Derrida J (1982) Margins of philosophy (University of
Chicago Press, Chicago)
DFID (Department for International Development) (1997)
Cmnd 3789 Eliminating world poverty: a challenge for the
21st century White paper on international development
(HMSO, London)
(1998) 'Mozambique country strategy paper 1998'
(www.dfid.gov.uk/public/what/what frame.html)
Accessed 21 February 1999
Geographers 20(4), 410-13
Egero B (1987) Mozambique: a dream undone (SIAS,
Uppsala)
Escobar A (1992) 'Imagining a post-development era?
Critical thought, development and social movements'
Social Text 31/32, 20-54
(1995) Encountering development: the making and
unmaking of the third world (Princeton University Press,
Princeton, NJ)
development dictionary: a guide to knowledge as power
(Zed Books, London), 6-25
Farmer B H (1973) 'Geography, area studies and the study
of area' Transactions of the Institute of British Geogra
phers 14, 15-25
(1983) 'British geographers overseas, 1933-1983' Trans
actions of the Institute of British Geographers 8, 70-79
FCO (1997) Britain and the Commonwealth: a working
partnership (Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
London)
Ferguson J (1990) The anti-politics machine: 'development'
depoliticization and bureaucratic power in Lesotho
(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)
Forbes D K (1984) The geography of underdevelopment: a
critical survey (Croom Helm, London)
German T and Randall J (eds) (1993) The reality of aid
(ActionAid, London)
Gilbert E W and Steel R W (1945) 'Social geography and its
place in colonial studies' Geographical lournal 105(1),
119-31
Gould B (1998) 'Viewpoint: New Labour, new international
development policy?' Third World Planning Review 20(1),
iii-vi
Guardian (1 997a) 'Britain can remake it' 22 July, 1 7
- (1997b) 'Short vows to target world poverty' 6
November, 3
- (1998a) 'The next step: a blueprint for New Labour's
world role' 7 February, 3
- (1998b) 'Sandline's chief says Foreign Office knew' 20
May, 14
- (1 998c) 'A poor show' 1 June, Media 9
- (1999) 'New beat to saving the world from debt' 15
February, 5
Haraway D (1991) Simians, cyborgs and women: the re
invention of nature (Routledge, London)
Hook S W (1995) National interest and foreign aid (Reinner,
London)
Human Rights Watch (1998) 'Sierra Leone: sowing terror'
(www.hrw.org/reports98/sierra/) Accessed December 4
Independent (1997) 'Apologising for history' 2 July, 20

This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 1 00 Power
Livingstone D (1992) The geographical tradition: episodes
in the history of a contested enterprise (Blackwell,
London)
Luke T (1991) 'The discourse of development: a genealogy
of developing nations and modernity' Current Perspec
tives in Social Theory 11, 271-93
(1996) 'The rise and fall of OPEC aid' in Hook S (ed)
Foreign aid toward the millennium (Reinner, London),
125-40
Marqusee M (1997) 'New Labour and its discontents' New
Left Review July/August, 127-42
Marx K (1857) 1857 Introduction (Palking Press, London)
(1954) Capital: a critique of political economy, volume
one: the process of production of capital (Lawrence and
Wishart, London)
McClintock A (1992) 'The angel of progress: the pitfalls of
the term postcolonialism' Social Text 31/32, 84-98
Mohan G (1998) 'Radicalism, relevance and the future of
ROAPE' Review of African Political Economy 76, 263-73
O'Tuathail G (1996) Critical geopolitics: the politics of
writing global space (Routledge, London)
ODI (Overseas Development Institute) (1964) 'British
Aid-5: colonial development' (ODI, London)
OECD (1997) Shaping the twenty-first century (OECD,
Washington, DC)
Power M (1998) 'The dissemination of development'
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 16,
577-98
(1999) 'Broadcast news: Portugal makes a come-back'
Southern Africa Report 14(2), 14-1 7
Rist G (1997) The history of development (Zed Books,
London)
Saferworld (1999) 'Saferworld: working to promote practi
cal solutions to armed conficts' (www.gn.apc.org/
SWORLD/SWORLD.html) Accessed 22 February
Said E W (1984) The world, the text and the critic (Faber
and Faber, London)
- (1991) 'The politics of knowledge' Raritan 41(1), 17-31
- (1993) Culture and imperialism (Chatto and Windus,
London)
This content downloaded from 190.16.156.29 on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:17:27 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Shanin T (1997) 'The idea of progress' in Rahnema M and
Bawtree V (eds) The post-development reader (Zed
Books, London), 65-71
Short C (1997a) 'Eliminating poverty-a challenge for the
new millennium' Speech presented at the Common
wealth Institute, London, 26 June. Copy available from
DFID
(1997b) 'The role and functions of the Department for
International Development'. Speech presented at SOAS,
University of London, 28 May. Copy available from DFID
Sidaway J and Power M (1 995) 'Socio-spatial transforma
tions in the postsocialist periphery: the case of Maputo,
Mozambique' Environment and Planning A 27, 1463-91
Simon D (1998) 'Rethinking (post)modernism, postcoloni
alism, and poststructuralism: South-North perspectives'
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 16,
219-45
Smith N and Godlewska A (1994) Geography and empire
(Blackwell, Oxford)
Sunday Times (1997) 'What Britain needs to be the best' 5
October, 6
Thiongo N W (1981) Writers in politics (East African
Educational Publishers, Nairobi)
Times (1999a) 'Nigerians seize Freetown from marauding
killers' 1 7 January, 12
(1 999b) 'British aid reaches war-torn Freetown' 18
January, 14
Wallerstein I (1991) Geopolitics and geoculture: essays in
the changing world system (Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge)
WGSG (Women and Geography Study Group) (1997)
Feminist geographies: explorations in diversity and differ
ence (Longman, London)
Wood G (1985) Labelling in development policy: essays in
honour of Bernard Schaffer (Sage, London)
World Bank (1992) Governance and development. the
World Bank's experience (World Bank, Washington, DC)
(1997) World Development Report. the state and devel
opment (World Bank, Washington, DC)