‘HI S T OR Y O B LI GE S ’ T H E R E A L M O T I V A T I O N S B E H I N D G E R M A N A I D F L O W S I N T H E C A S E O F N A M I B I A Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy Thesis Submitted by Esther Schüring May 2004 Under the advisement of Professor Peter Uvin © 2004 Esther Schüring http://fletcher.tufts.edu ‘History obliges’ The real motivations behind German aid flows in the case of Namibia MALD Thesis 2004 Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Esther Schüring Preface This study has been a very interesting experience for me in many regards. It has enabled me to delve into my own country’s past and discover a chapter of history that is largely ignored by the German school curriculum and that has not attracted a great deal of media attention. It has exposed me to a very unique aid relationship between Germany and Namibia whose extent was unknown to me and still is to a majority of the German public. Since no previous studies were conducted on the underlying motives behind aid in this particular case, the testing of various aid variables that could have motivated German aid flows to Namibia was a real discovery journey for me. I was amazed to see the impact of rather understudied and less well established variables on German motivations. I’m grateful for this experience and I want to thank all the people who have made this study possible. I am grateful for excellent feedback on various drafts from Professor Peter Uvin who guided me throughout my thesis. I want to thank Erik Boonstoppel for his substantial critique and rigorous editing and Maria Reff for her input concerning language and structure. I am also very grateful for insights and comments from Dr. Wolfgang Maier (country representative of the Konrad Adenauer foundation in Namibia) Hans Büttner (SPD-delegate of the German Bundestag and specialist on Southern Africa), Dieter Bückmann (coordinator of a youth exchange program between the Protestant congregation in Drevenack (Germany) with a partner church in Namibia) and from the many survey participants who took their time to fill out the questionnaire. Many thanks for the great cooperation and research help to the magazines Der Stern and Der Spiegel, to the Federal Statistical Office in Germany, the OECD, the Namibian embassy in Germany, the Bremen state government and Professor Manfred Hinz who allowed me to use his background paper. I also would like to extend my acknowledgments to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation which has supported me throughout my studies and provided me with the great opportunity to study at the Fletcher School. Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents for their patience and continuous support throughout my academic career, in particular my mom, who helped coordinate the entire survey for me in Germany and my brother for his great encouragement. 2 Executive Summary This study explains the exceptional donor position that Germany assumes in Namibia. Contrary to the predominant discourse on aid allocation literature, this study finds that classic motives such as need, economic potential, strategic interest in military terms, democracy and region do not factor in as strongly in Namibia’s case. Germany’s aid flows are largely a result of two variables, (1) moral obligation, a largely understudied variable and (2) cultural similarity, a variable not often applied in the German context due to the removed colonial presence. Moral obligation is mainly a product of German-Namibian colonial history - the ‘genocide’ that the emperor’s troops executed in 1904-07, - reinforced by the largely contested German aid flows to Namibia during South African occupation. The recognition of colonial wrongdoings by German politicians, coupled with external pressure have turned moral obligation into the most decisive variable in the German-Namibian aid relationship. Whereas internal pressure has been almost non-existent, external pressure has been exerted continuously and successfully by the Namibian government and by the Herero. Worried about its reputation and costly reparations, the German government appears to have used its generous aid flows in an attempt to silence these pressure sources. The second most influential variable, the cultural similarity to the 20,000 Namibia Germans, has political as well as sentimental roots: German politicians have cared and continue to do so for their constituency in Namibia and in no other country, the German language and traditions play such a significant role as in Namibia. Next to these two prevalent variables, a third variable has increasingly gained more momentum. Although not one of the predominant determinants of German aid flows, the socio-political strategic interest of the German government to placate potential tensions arising from the land reform issue has guaranteed that aid continues to flow. This variable is a combination of moral obligation (land reform as colonial legacy) and cultural similarity (concern about the well-being of the Namibia Germans). 3 Table of contents I. Introduction ..............................................................................................6 II. Motives behind foreign aid – a literature review ....................................9 II.1 Aid motives over time – a conceptual and methodological journey.............................. 9 II.1.1 Need vs. strategic interests ...................................................................................... 10 II.1.2 New variables entering the aid discourse................................................................. 12 II.1.3 Cold war shift?........................................................................................................ 16 II.2 Bundling aid.................................................................................................................. 17 II.3 Methodology – testing Namibia’s aid bundle .............................................................. 19 III. Statistical analysis of German aid flows to Namibia...........................21 III.1 ODA in absolute terms ................................................................................................. 21 III.2 ODA in per capita terms .............................................................................................. 22 III.3 ODA in relative terms................................................................................................... 24 III.4 Germany as the greatest donor .................................................................................... 25 IV. Historical Analysis..................................................................................27 IV.1 German colonial rule in Namibia................................................................................. 27 IV.1.1 Brief outline............................................................................................................ 27 IV.1.2 The Herero and Nama uprising 1904-1907 – a closer view...................................... 30 IV.1.2.1 Causes of the uprising .................................................................................. 30 IV.1.2.2 The uprising ................................................................................................. 31 IV.1.2.3 Consequences............................................................................................... 32 IV.1.2.4 Genocide or not – does it really matter?........................................................ 34 IV.2 Germany’s ‘Namibia policy’ from a historical perspective ........................................ 37 IV.2.1 West Germany’s relations with Namibia & its controversies ................................... 37 IV.2.2 East Germany’s relations with Namibia – on the way to a communist future? ......... 42 IV.2.3 Namibia and a reunified Germany........................................................................... 43 V. Key pieces of the foreign aid puzzle.......................................................45 V.1 Humanitarian need....................................................................................................... 45 V.1.1 In monetary terms ................................................................................................... 46 V.1.2 In non-monetary terms ............................................................................................ 47 V.2 Strategic importance .................................................................................................... 49 V.2.1 In military terms ..................................................................................................... 49 V.2.2 In socio-political terms............................................................................................ 50 V.2.2.1 Precautionary measures to defuse public protest and insurrection abroad..... 50 V.2.2.2 Consolidation of political support of voters ................................................. 51 V.3 Economic potential & policy ........................................................................................ 52 V.3.1 Namibia’s economic attractiveness ......................................................................... 53 V.3.2 German interests and engagement ........................................................................... 57 4 V.4 Democratic nature & civil and political liberties......................................................... 59 V.5 Cultural Similarity - German vestiges in Namibia...................................................... 62 V.6 Region ..........................................................................................................................
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