Donor Politics and Power in EU Development Cooperation

Development cooperation is frequently presented as a technocratic policy domain, insulated from domestic politics and governed by shared international norms. However, a growing body of research in political science has demonstrated that development policies are deeply embedded in power relations, political interests, and competing visions of social and economic order. This paper contributes to these debates by examining development cooperation within the European Union (EU) as a site of internal political contestation rather than a unified external policy framework. The paper focuses on the role of Central European donor states and analyses how their participation in EU development policy reflects broader political dynamics within the Union. Using critical discourse analysis, it compares EU-level development policy documents with national development strategies and political statements from these countries between 2004 and 2024. The analysis builds on the author’s recent article on the concept of “donor identity” and explores how development policy discourse is shaped by historical experience, domestic political trajectories, and changing geopolitical conditions. The findings show that while Central European donors largely reproduce the dominant EU discourse on democracy promotion, human rights, and international solidarity, they also articulate distinct political narratives rooted in their experiences of post-socialist transformation, regional proximity, and the absence of a colonial past. These narratives do not constitute open opposition to EU development norms but instead reflect selective reinterpretation and subtle forms of resistance, often described as negative Europeanisation. Development policy thus emerges as a political arena in which Member States negotiate their role, responsibilities, and interests within a differentiated EU. The paper argues that analysing EU development cooperation as a political field helps to move beyond technocratic accounts of aid policy and highlights the importance of internal political contestation in shaping external action. By situating EU development policy within broader debates on the politics of development, this paper contributes to an understanding of how development agendas are produced, contested, and transformed in an increasingly fragmented global environment.