We have to stop disappearing into a hedge

It's been a while since I last posted - lots of things to do, and I also wanted to take some time to think further about what I want to do with this site. I had initially thought about building a space for more voices than just mine, but I think in the near-term I may shift toward keeping this about my perspectives on development aid, politics, and academia. I'll still with a focus on what we do to go forward without forgetting what we gained from previous eras.

In the time since I last posted, I've been thinking more about how the fields I work in (development aid, academia, and center-left politics) save themselves. I'll focus on development aid and center-left politics for now. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) here in Germany is going through a reform process and the parties representing the centre-left politics I subscribe to are stuck trying to find their 21st Century identity. Something that binds these two fields is a tendency to retreat into self-criticism. I think a big part of this is that it's somehow passe to be too positive in these fields. "Yes we do good things, but we also have to be self-critical otherwise we risk seeming boastful," summarizes a sentiment I hear a lot. This is different than being individually proud of one's work, so I'll talk a bit about development and center-left politics, and then come back to what I mean by the 'pride' that could save these fields a bit.

I'll start with development aid. This is a public sector field, and in Germany where I work development cooperation is still a stand alone cabinet ministry (for now). The current Minister, Reem Alabali-Radovan, is pushing a reform process that aims to focus the ministry's activities and make development cooperation a key component of the German government's security strategy and national security council. It is, by its own admission, a reform focused on development cooperation's role in German security policy. In my opinion its a fine process; not revolutionary but gives a concrete basis for arguing the relevance of development cooperation as a key part of the German security strategy. From outside the ministry looking in though it feels like the staff response to the announcement of this mission has been paralysis. Instead of a proactive spirit, the response has been to hunker down and wait for orders (or hope nothing actually changes). The best minister in the world cannot save a ministry if the entire staff's approach to a reform process is to disappear into a hedge.

The tendencies listed above are something I also see in center-left politics. Anyone following the Social Democrat's (SPD) travails in Germany knows that right now being a center-left party is electorally thankless. Some of this I'd chalk up to a tendency among SPD, Labour, and Democratic politicians desire to be the performative 'adults in the room'. In the British case in particular, it's wildly misplaced efforts to show right-wing voters that their views count in the eyes of the center-left (which will lead to exactly zero right wing voters ever voting for the center left). It adds up to a what feels like a mix of either propping up systems everyone wants to see change, or a type of pandering that comes from wanting to be liked. SPD has been reduced to a crutch the center-right CDU can use to form coalition governments while keeping up the facade of a 'firewall' against the far right. Labour could feed every foreign resident in the UK to sharks on live TV and they'll only even simultaneously achieve alienating their voters while never winning over right wing voters. In these cases disappearing into a hedge takes the form of refusing to clearly defend center-left values - SPD, Labour, and the Democrats rarely (if ever) say "well actually we're correct and the right wing is wrong" (though this is changing among American Democrats). That's just too combative - receding into a hedge feels safer in the immediate.

I'm going to come back to pride now, which is the point of this post. Like I said above, I don't mean individual pride - indeed, I'm proud of the work I do, and I know plenty of people working in development aid, academia, and politics who derive pride and purpose from their work. What I am thinking about in this case though is pride in what development aid or center-left politics stands for, a more systematic level of showing pride that underlines the work as important.

"What we do is an important and necessary part of being a global leader among nations."

"Our ideas are better for the vast majority of people than our political opponents' ideas."

Until we, those of us who work in development cooperation or center-left politics, believe these things in our bones and are willing to voice that belief in political, technical, and moral terms, it'll continue to be hard to convince others of it. What won't work is receding into a hedge and hoping the status quo will save us.