Dialogue in Pursuit of Development - Are you looking for one of ...

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The Swedish government did include conditions, particularly when it came
to economic reforms, but regarding the more basic political questions, there
were no precise conditions. We did not put forward conditions such as ‘you
have to implement democracy within one year or we will withdraw’ – we
kept up dialogues over long periods of time. Tanzania is one example. In
1992, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I discussed an introduction of a multiparty
system with the party secretary of the only party at that time, Chama
Cha Mapinduzi. Many Tanzanians insisted that one party was enough and
our discussion mainly dealt with what the requirements would be in a situation
of more than one party.
When it comes to the question of poverty alleviation, it sometimes seems
as if the interest is bigger at the donor end than in the country in question.
Then, the dialogue becomes more of a monologue. Agreements and international
conventions in connection with this question are also a result of
joint international work and can be used as an instrument for a moral and
legal world order – an expression of international ethics. Therefore, it seems
legitimate to keep up such discussions with recipients to make our ambitions
clear. Of course, there are limits to and difficulties in these discussions.
One has to see aid in a wider perspective, as part of a greater idea – and
looking at it as part of a more general world order is not something new. It
all relates to the conditions for human development. An aid dialogue should
be based on knowledge of a particular situation, but should also be a legitimate
way to enforce an international perspective.
HFJ: Yes, the dialogue is there. The dialogue on good governance, human
rights and democracy is an important part of Norway’s relationship with our
partner countries. We are well aware of such deficiencies in partner countries
and we point them out whenever there is reason to do so. But the
dialogue can and must be improved. This includes reform in the public
sector and fighting corruption. It also includes sectoral reforms in e.g. education,
health, rural development etc. Political reform is not only about political
parties and freedom of speech. It is about reforming the public sector,
too.
In addition, in the Norwegian government’s action plan for combating
poverty we explicitly state that there is also a need to strengthen political
parties and NGOs so that they can act as ‘watchdogs’ for human rights and
democratic development. This cannot be done as an ‘undercover operation’.
It must be clearly understood and accepted by the authorities in our partner
countries. In my opinion, such co-operation strengthens the dialogue and
the partnership itself.
PM: One of Finland’s criteria for giving aid is that we want to be able to
see clear signs of democratic development. Other criteria are human rights
development, the fight against corruption and good governance. When we
observe a deterioration of human rights or a turning away from democratic
development, we have to clearly state our opinion. I must say that our ap-