Paper short abstract:

Since the revitalisation of Polish Aid the System has been considered as the main element conditioning the development pursuit. The paper will examine, how bureaucratic technologies aim not only to govern practice, but also to orchestrate visions of the future and the fantasies of success.

Paper long abstract:

The creation of the policy-based Official Development Aid (ODA) system is one of the requirements for all those who want to be accepted to the exclusive clubs of the EU and OECD/DAC donors. As I argue in this paper, the need to form the ODA system which will comply with the regulations of these powerful institutions for donors such as Poland is envisaged as the ultimate way to transgress from being dubbed as 'emergent' donor and be recognised as an 'established donor'. Effectively, the formulation of the system is perceived as proof of the mature, expert and modern status of Polish aid. Indeed, the creation of the perfect aid system, has been one of the key goals on the Polish development activists' agenda. Since the revitalisation of Polish aid after the country's accession to the EU, the System has been considered as the main element conditioning the success or failure of their development pursuit. In its ideal (yet-to-be-achieved) form, the System is envisioned as a potential solution to all development problems.

In this paper my aim is to consider, why, given that there is such dissatisfaction with the ways policies work, there is still so much hope invested in the creation of new, supposedly better policies. The question remains as to what this stubborn obsession with policy expresses.Why is faith in it as a driving force of development maintained nonetheless? The question remains as to what this stubborn obsession with policy expresses. As I will argue, the power of policy lies in the seductive promise of an ordered and systematised world. While strongly bureaucratic in its nature, policy becomes an aesthetic tool, expressive of development activists' hopes and dreams for an organised and ordered reality, a fantasy of a harmonious system which will eventually orientate good practice, leading to positive global change and the eradication of poverty. As I will demonstrate, even though developmental policy is a bureaucratic technology in itself, its aim is not only to govern practice and people, but also to orchestrate visions of the future and the fantasies of success.