Wer was wie zählt. Die Machtspiele um ökonomische Kennziffern in der Entwicklungshilfe

Abstract

Abstract

Who counts, what and how: the power games about economic indicators in the field of development.

This article addresses how power games are imbued in economic indicators used in the field of development. Thus, it draws on the assumption of economic theory that suggests that accounting has the ability to reduce power games within organizations. Using examples of negotiations between different national and multinational organizations in the field of development, the article shows, how identical economic key number can be calculated very differently. In that case, if different organizations draw on economic key number during negotiations, the result is often a complicated power game over the proper key number. However, although the economic key figure can have strong effects on power games in the field of development aid, focussing on such figures can also have the function of creating a „pseudo-understanding“, and thus a continuation of the cooperation process.