Paper short abstract:

An ethnographic analysis of the Busan High Level Forum on development aid explores the much debated question of whether Busan is ushering in a new era of development co-operation, one in which the BRICs will play a major role in shaping international aid relations.

Paper long abstract:

Many observers believe that the Busan HLF will usher in a new era of development co-operation, one which the BRICs will play a major role in shaping. A wide range of opinions on what the BRICs will bring to that are already being voiced. How do actors think they will do so and what assumptions and experiences do these actors draw upon in stating their opinions? What of the BRICs themselves: how do they see themselves and each other within the context of aid relations? What are the differences between them?

The methodology of 'situation analysis' that the study will adopt derives from the premise that both researcher and researched are aware they are actors engaged in a contradictory and conflictive historical processes and that the event in which they are participating is a potential pivotal moment (Kapferer 2006). From this perspective, we will analyse the actors, discourses and spaces of conversation and negotiations. HLF4 will have about 2000 participants, making it ethnographically challenging, providing an opportunity to analyse how such an international multi-stakeholder process may 'mask abuses of power and more structural enduring inequity' (Edmunds and Wollenberg 2001: 232). What can Busan tell us about aid relationships?