1st Edition
The Eastern Bloc and Sub-Saharan Africa Czechoslovakia, UNESCO and Development Aid from the 1960s and Beyond
This book analyses the shifting patterns of Czechoslovak educational aid programmes for sub-Saharan African countries within the broader framework of the global debates on the nature of development aid in education discussed on the UNESCO grounds during the three “development decades.”
Starting in the early 1960s, Czechoslovakia sent abroad hundreds of experts hoping to stimulate the development of local educational and scientific institutions. However, over the years, the development aid to African countries transformed into a special form of foreign trade, and distribution of experts turned into a profitable business. Yet, the tendencies towards “sustainability” and “higher return on investment” in the field of development aid were not limited just to the socialist bloc but emerged globally. This book, therefore, not only revisits the roles of Czechoslovakia and Africa in the Cold War history but also reflects on the function of aid in international politics.
The Eastern Bloc and Sub-Saharan Africa will appeal to students and historians specializing in the global Cold War, and particularly those curious about development, international organizations, economic history and transfers of knowledge in transnational networks.
Introduction
Chapter 1: The System of Development Aid within the Context of Cold War Geopolitics
From the Prehistory of Development Assistance to the First Development Decade Contribution to the Concept of Development
International Development Aid in Education
Socialist-style Approach to the Development in the Third World Altered Climate of Educational Assistance
Towards the Reform of the Educational Development
Revisiting the Soviet Aid
Chapter 2: The Economy of Development Aid: Czechoslovak Perspective
Vivat Internationalism? (1961-1969)
Pragmatic Turn of the Late 1960s
Development Aid during the period of “consolidation” (1969-1974)
Between the Profit-Based Logic and Solidarity (1974-1989)
Chapter 3: ČSSR and UNESCO Development Programmes
Czechoslovak Cooperation with UNESCO.
Constructing the Universal Language of Development
Educational Planners
Literacy Experts
Science Teachers
Engineering Instructors
Hydrology Trainers
Chapter 4: Commercialization of the Expert Service
Balancing between the Politics and Economy
International Experts – National Interests
Lessons Learned?
Roles of Experts in 1970s
Conclusion
Tables
Biography
Barbora Buzássyová is a researcher at the Institute of History of Slovak Academy of Sciences. She focuses on Cold War History and Czechoslovak–Global South relations. She is the author of “Side by Side with the Fighting Nations”: Making the New Culture of Pro-African Solidarity in the Campaigns of the Czechoslovak Committee for Solidarity with African and Asian Peoples (2024).
