Het Nederlandse beleid ten aanzien van de ontwikkelingssamenwerking

Abstract

Should the aid to developing countries be seen as a social-economic problem or as a political question? Changes did occur in the major objectives and means of the Dutch aid policy. In this case policy as well as politics will be influenced by the interstate relationships. Development aid may be seen as a two-sided relation, symbolized by the word; co-operation. It can be shown that development co-operation has not yet been developed as an independent policy within the over-all Dutch government activities. Some undesired consequences of taxes and of agreements on primary products may demonstrate the influence of the social-economic outlook on aid goals. Development co-operation is a question of government policy. Every government must define the most important goals, including those qualified as social economic, cultural etc., — as well as choose the means to achieve that situation for the country. Once those choices have been made, it will perhaps be possible for developed and developing countries to look for a basis for co-operation to realize their own futures. Development policy may thus develop from being an instrument of foreign policy to an independent policy of co-operation.