| dc.description.abstract | Over the years, the developed countries have used aid as a stepping-stone to
influence or impact events mainly in the political and economic spheres in the
recipient countries. There is the contention that until the beginning of the early
1990s when the Cold War ended with collapse of the Soviet Union, development
assistance had been used by the major powers and their allies as a means of
procuring allies. Western donors to keep communism at bay, used development aid.
It would appear that with the end of the Cold War, belief in the assistance -
financed, government-controlled and accumulation-oriented development strategy
also finally disappeared. The focus of DCs changed to emphasis on democracy and
respect for human rights in all countries in keeping with final document of the UN
Conference on the Human Rights held in Vienna, Austria in 1993. There was
renewed focus on human rights and poverty reduction. With aid being tied to
conditionalities, both political and economic, aid had lost its Cold War justification.
Since Western donors could no longer justify aid to their domestic audiences as a
tool against communism their foreign policy was now justified on the grounds that it
would support democratization programmes in developing countries.
Against this background, Denmark's foreign policy of the Post Cold War period
sought to promote her security and prosperity based on a set of fundamental values,
which encompassed respect for each human being and human rights. Membership of
the European Union (EU) was also a key element of this policy. Individually and
within the EU, Denmark sought to promote her interests and values pursued through,
among other things, development policy.
With the altered geopolitical situation following the end of Cold War, Kenya was
put under pressure by Denmark and other western donors, to undertake the necessary
economic and political reforms before they would continue with development
assistance. The political developments and other issues deemed incompatible with
Danish foreign policy led to reduction of development assistance to Kenya. These
contentious issues were to feature in every Annual Bilateral Consultations between
Kenya and Denmark during 1990's.
The study seeks to look at the new international system wrought by the end of the
Cold War, and its impact on development aid to Africa. The study also assesses the
impact of Denmark's foreign policy on Kenya - and specifically it's impact on the
development relations between the two countries. | en |
