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Paper short abstract

The presentation recalls to the Declaration on the Establishment on a New International Economic Order and its critique as of an alternative non-Western world order, representing “sedimentation” of the European empires and secures the Westernised perspective on sustainability and development.

Paper long abstract

The presentation challenges the positivist notion of a linear progression of the global community from decolonisation to a post-colonial state, and the assumption of an inevitable transition to a post-post state that overcomes both the negative effects of colonialism and the ongoing trauma of persistent inequality. In doing so, it recalls to the Declaration on the Establishment on a New International Economic Order (NIEO) and its critique as of an alternative non-Western world order; that do not seem to have withstood the resistance of the Majority World. It is argued that the European Union’s projects of assistance to the Third World and to Africa, in particular, in the name of sustainable development represent a gap between the political discourse of equality, justice and interdependence and the repetitive dwelling of decolonisation in practice. This is the process that prevents overcoming the condition of dependence, the establishment of sovereignty, and supports the idea of metropolitan supremacy over the subaltern in the form of patronage. The presentation concludes that the European Development Aid policy currently represents “sedimentation” of the European empires (Dimier, 2014) and secures the Westernised perspective on sustainability and development, and upholds the geopolitical rationale behind the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).