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Naturliga Bundsförvanter: En kritisk diskursanalys av EU:s ramverk för utvecklingssamarbetet med Afrika

Author

  • Lisa Igelström

Summary, in English

The partnership and development cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Africa is described as a key priority for the European Commission and their aim is to further strengthen the partnership (European Commission 2020). However, the relationship between the European Union and the African continent has a deep and complex history that has been characterized by colonial ties and unequal power relations (Haastrup, Mah & Duggan 2021, s.15). For that reason the aim of this thesis was to explore how the discursive framework the EU utilizes in their development cooperation with Africa is constructed. Specifically the aim was to discuss what linguistic tools are used to discursively construct the EU-Africa relations, what norms are put forward and frame cooperation between the EU and Africa and how the EU and Africa are portrayed in the discourse. Through utilizing Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model for critical discourse analysis I analyzed the discourse in three official EU documents. This was done with the theoretical framework of post-development theory and normative power theory. The discourse reveals that the EU remains optimistic regarding the cooperation with Africa, but this optimism is countered with an asymmetry in power where the EU has more power than Africa.
This comes from a number of reasons, one of them being that the EU is seen as a normative power. Moreover, the EU appears to be selective in its portrayal of the EU-Africa relationship, where the colonial history remains unmentioned. This showcases that a critical approach towards the development cooperation between the EU and Africa remains relevant.

Department/s

Publishing year

2024

Language

Swedish

Document type

Student publication for Bachelor's degree

Topic

  • Law and Political Science

Keywords

  • European Union
  • Africa
  • development cooperation
  • discourse
  • normative power
  • post-development theory
  • European Studies

Supervisor

  • Alena Minchenia