Footnote:
In: International Organisations Research Journal, Vol. 10. No 1 (2015)
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments February 7, 2015 erstellt
Description:
Soviet, later Russian, relations with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), notably its Development Assistance Committee (DAC), have oscillated over the decades, along with profound shifts in the world economic balance and in the relative strength of the Russian economy. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union rejected Marshall Aid but later sought to join the OECD. While the OECD could have been a place to pursue East-West economic interests and mutual benefits, political tensions limited the scope for collaboration. Toward the end of the Cold War, the Soviets sought increasing cooperation and this continued into the 1990s when the OECD played a key role in supporting the former Soviet Union countries, especially the Russian Federation, and aiding their transition to a market economy. The Russian Federation has since become a candidate for accession to the OECD, although this process has now been postponed because of political tensions related to Ukraine. This postponement does not preclude stronger collaboration in the area of development cooperation. Development cooperation has been an area of both competitive and collaborative relations between the Russian Federation and OECD members. The DAC has its origins in U.S.-inspired attempts to counter the perceived threat of Soviet communist influence through aid by expanding and improving the collective aid effort of the West. The DAC collected statistics on Soviet bloc development assistance, the accuracy of which was always disputed, and succeeded in promoting only limited in-country coordination between the Soviets and western donors. During the late 1980s, this began to change as the Soviets struggled to maintain their development programs and sought ever more cooperation. Thereafter DAC members became donors to the former Soviet Union. Twenty years later, the Russian Federation straddles a unique middle ground between developed and developing countries and has a re-emerging aid program. This article reviews Soviet/Russian-DAC cooperation and suggests a 21st-century Russian-DAC relationship that will enhance development outcomes, at long last keeping a re-emerging donor out of the cold