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Private sector development as poverty and strategic discourse: PSD in the political economy of EU–Africa trade relations*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

Mark Langan
Mark Langan*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, United Kingdom
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Private sector development (PSD) has emerged as a core component of donor strategies aimed at making free markets work for ‘the poor’ through assistance to business sector capacity in low-income states. PSD initiatives cannot be understood, however, as technical exercises aimed solely at promoting development through business competitiveness. Instead they serve as normative concessions through which developmentally questionable market-opening has been rationalised by donors in pursuit of lucrative commercial opportunities in emerging economies. Examining the European Union's (EU) PSD framework in bilateral relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, the article examines the utilisation of PSD discourse in the ‘development branding’ of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). PSD discourse is seen to facilitate a ‘double-veiling’ of asymmetric ACP–EU trade ties via legitimising images of equitable market-opening and the trickle-down of business wealth to ‘the poor’. Nevertheless, the reality of reciprocal trade structures combined with Europe's anaemic PSD resources bears little resemblance to the strategic illusions of PSD. In particular, the interventions of Europe's Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) in cotton and textiles sectors in East Africa are seen to have dubious outcomes for ‘development’ in ACP former colonies.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , March 2011 , pp. 83 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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Footnotes

*

Many thanks to Rorden Wilkinson, Sarah Bracking, James Scott and Vijay Simha Pandrapragada for their insights on the issues and their encouragement. Sincere thanks also to the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. Any errors or flaws in the article remain entirely my own.

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