Book Chapter
The Rationale of Foreign Aid Policy

Book chapter in P. Andersen, I. Henriksen, J.H. Petersen and H. Zobbe (eds.) How Does the World Look? (in Danish).

One of Professor Niels Kærgård's teachers at the University of Copenhagen, Prof. Mogens Boserup, asked in 1967: "Do we help?" (Boserup, 1967). His book is today useful reading for those who want to understand why international development assistance is given and received.

Mogens Boserup was a pioneer in international development cooperation, and, like Niels Kærgård (both a wise and experienced university economist), wanted a more just world. Danish assistance was limited in 1950, and it was almost entirely channeled through United Nations system. It was only in 1962 that the Danish parliament adopted a law on development aid. The administration of assistance was set up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the so-called Secretariat for Technical Cooperation and Development. Boserup was the boss, so he was the first leader of contemporary Danida.

In this article, I reflect the novelties in aid rationale compared to the thoughts and principles Boserup formulated 45 years ago.