Slovak Aid – Official Development Assistance as a Tool in Slovakia’s Identity Formation?

Abstract

The article deals with the interpretations of development aid that can be
found in the Slovak official development discourse. From the theoretical
point of view, I build on the social-constructivist approach to the study of
international relations as well as on the conceptualization of the logic of
appropriateness and the logic of consequences as put forward by March
and Olsen (1989). In the first part of the article, I address the theoretical
and methodological issues of the research. In the following parts, I analyze
official documents of the Slovak ODA policy and my own interviews with its
stakeholders with a focus on the different interpretations and logics of
action behind the policy. In the concluding part, I summarize the main
research findings.