Mediating the power imbalances of development: A paradox for partnership brokers

Abstract

The western development industry operates on significant, complex, and historical power imbalances that favor the perspectives and interests of donors. This paper examines these imbalances through a brokering lens, exploring how they undermine local agency and partnerships. It also looks at how brokers and other development professionals disrupt, but ultimately, and sometimes unconciously, reproduce these imbalances through their work. The paper concludes that there is a paradox in trying to transform power imbalances while also maintaining the identities, institutions, and interests that reproduce them. The author hopes to explore new ways of addressing this paradox in order to support meaningful change and a radical rethinking of development.