In development policies, all issues and themes are cross-border. The three policy documents that are analysed in the first part of this thesis are written and published in a globalized policy context. In all three policy documents, there is the influence of international agreements or policies and collaboration on international level.
In addressing poverty, the Netherlands is an active participant in international organizations. The Netherlands was in the past very active in inserting new rules, norms or policies ideas in international organizations; which would be implemented by the member states.
On the international attention for the subject, almost all respondents were emphasizing the importance of the international arena in development policies. However, it is very difficult to analyse how and to which extend the international arena has had impact on the policy change. The international agenda-setting of the themes that are presented in the 2013 policy document could have had place years before this agenda was published.
The discourse of Aid for Trade is, after negotiations and discussions on international level, promoted by the WTO. The WTO is a coordinating actor in the international arena and also a creator of new policy principles and models. The WTO can be seen as a modern missionary, which is preaching the new development approach of ‘Aid for Trade’ to their member states. The WTO is an ‘institutional policy venue’; an organization which presents a policy image of ‘Aid for Trade’ and are trying to support and extend this policy image to their members.
The WTO does not have bounding resolutions with conditionality, so there is little coercion from the WTO in the transfer of the policy ideas. The only way in which the WTO tries to keep influence on the promotion of ‘Aid for Trade’, are the regular meetings of the WTO in which extra commitments are signed, as happened in 2013. The Netherlands was visited by a special envoy from the WTO to renew the commitment to Aid for Trade. However, this commitment is not binding by law, so the influence of the WTO on policy change can be seen as very soft.
The Dutch approach of ‘Aid and Trade’ is much broader than the Aid for Trade – initiative. However, there are elements of the WTO-approach copied into the 2013 policy document, for example the emphasis on trade agreements and the trade with developing
59 countries. The expectation that the Aid for Trade -initiative had a lot of influence on the policy change in Dutch development policies, is not true. The respondents did not mention the direct influence of the WTO and the Aid for Trade –initiative on the change to an ‘Aid and Trade’–agenda. They did mention the initiative as inspiration for their own policies, with the addition that the Dutch development policies contain principles of the Aid for Trade-initiative, embedded in a broader approach.
The other organization mentioned by respondents is the OECD. This organization is an example of an organization that stimulates policy learning. It provides an international forum for debate and discussion about development policies. The function of the OECD is monitoring and evaluating development policies. Together with other donor countries, the Netherlands participates in a small group that evaluates and discuss each other’s policy. The policies are shaped in the interaction with other countries. ‘Aid and Trade’ is discussed within the OECD together with developing countries.
The participation of the Netherlands the OECD and their openness to other countries policies led to convergence of policies among donor-countries. ‘Aid and Trade’ in development policies is an example of policy harmonisation. All respondents argued that ‘Aid and Trade’ also in other countries is an accepted approach in development policies. The respondents spoke about a trend in worldwide development policies to combine ‘Aid and Trade’. This mutual influence shows the transnational diffusion of policy and the interconnectedness between the donor-countries to fight global problems.
Not only international organizations as the WTO or the OECD caused diffusion of policies and policy ideas, also the Netherlands is active in accepting or copying policy ideas from other countries. In the establishment of the new agenda and responsibilities of Minister Ploumen and the institutional division of departments of foreign trade and development, other countries have been examples for the Netherlands. In finding the right combination of tasks and responsibilities for the Minister, policymakers have looked to other countries to see how they have designed their government structures.
The Netherlands is with its development policies and the attention for ‘Aid and Trade’ one of the leading donor countries in the field of development policies. Also Scandinavian countries and the United Kingdom are combining ‘Aid and Trade’; however, the Dutch implementation with their new policy instrument the Dutch Good Growth Fund is unique. Other countries want to learn about this new policy instrument, another example that policy learning takes place between countries. Between countries, without the interference of international organizations, there is competition and exchange of policy ideas.
60 The international influence can be compared to a big box which contains a lot of policies ideas and elements and the Dutch policy makers selected some aspects they liked the most. The international arena with the diffusion of policies and policy ideas worked as a framework for Dutch development policies. This is line with the literature on transnational policy diffusion, which states that the diffusion mostly contains principles or models instead of specified policy programmes.
The Dutch development policy is a mix of international influences and own political ideas. It cannot be said that The Netherlands have gave up their own policy ideas to replace it with policy images and ideas from the international context. Based on this research it cannot be said that the influence of international organizations has increased by accepting the discourse of ‘Aid and Trade’ in Dutch development policies.
The Dutch development policies with ‘Aid and Trade’ are not only based on international approaches and policies from international organizations. The role of international organizations is not that influential as expected. The Aid for Trade initiative is partly implemented and is changed to an own, broader approach; of ‘Aid and Trade’. The OECD played a role in the international coordination of development policies and in policy learning and emulation; a forum where countries discuss and debate about their development policies. Also outside the OECD are countries looking to each other’s policies and institutional divisions. The role of other countries in the diffusion of policy ideas is more significant than the role of international organizations. The international influence was not the only reason for change. In the next section other reasons for change are analysed.