P. van Dam

Beyond the merchant and the clergyman: Assessing moral claims about development cooperation

This article proposes to move beyond the categories of altruism and self-interest in the analyses of the motives for development cooperation. This opposition ignores the inherently moral nature of development policy. The article illustrates the shortcomings of such a perspective by tracing the metaphor of the merchant and the clergyman as archetypical figures shaping Dutch development policy. Through these images the suggestion of an opposition between moral and amoral motives in the history of development has gained a strong foothold within the interplay of scholars, policy makers and public opinion. We go on to assess claims about economy, security, solidarity, prestige and guilt, and ecology, which have been brought forward to legitimise Dutch foreign aid. This analysis calls for research on the dynamics of the transnational exchanges of ideas, interests and expectations, especially during episodes when the moral validity of policy has been explicitly contested.This article proposes to move beyond the categories of altruism and self-interest in the analyses of the motives for development cooperation. This opposition ignores the inherently moral nature of development policy. The article illustrates the shortcomings of such a perspective by tracing the metaphor of the merchant and the clergyman as archetypical figures shaping Dutch development policy. Through these images the suggestion of an opposition between moral and amoral motives in the history of development has gained a strong foothold within the interplay of scholars, policy makers and public opinion. We go on to assess claims about economy, security, solidarity, prestige and guilt, and ecology, which have been brought forward to legitimise Dutch foreign aid. This analysis calls for research on the dynamics of the transnational exchanges of ideas, interests and expectations, especially during episodes when the moral validity of policy has been explicitly contested.

Vervlochten geschiedenis. Hoe Histoire croisée de natiestaat bedwingt

The approaches of historical comparison and research into cultural transfers have ineffectively set out to distance historical research from the nation state. This analysis of histoire croisee against the background of historical comparison and cultural transfer concludes that this new approach adds to the historical arsenal by positioning reflexivity at the heart of it. By institutionalizing the reflexive turn it calls attention to mutual perception in human relationships, to the balance of power in these relations and to the relative importance of different spatial frames for the historical actors in question. Histoire croisee bundles existing historical approaches which stress the perspective of the contemporaries, interwoven human relations and their balances of power and self-reflexivity. It regards the nation state as just one of several interwoven frames, which importance to historical actors has to be explored. Thus histoire croisee does not try to replace the national framework, but turns it into a useful question for future research. ‘It is high time to set about breaking down the outmoded topographical compartments within which we seek to confine social realities’, sprak de aartsvader van de Annales-school Marc Bloch in 1928. 2 Om het nationale denkkader in de geschiedschrijving een minder dominante rol te laten spelen, wees hij op de mogelijkheden van vergelijkende geschiedschrijving. Met de verschrikkingen van de Eerste Wereldoorlog nog vers in zijn geheugen achtte hij daar niet alleen de wetenschap, maar ook de maatschappij mee gediend. De historische vergelijking was, zo benadrukte hij, weliswaar geen nieuw instrument, maar historici deden er goed aan haar vaker te gebruiken. Wanneer ze wilden vergelijken, moesten ze zich immers steeds eerst afvragen binnen welk ruimtelijk kader hun onderwerp eigenlijk vergeleken kon worden. ‘Whatever particular aspect of European social life is being studied, and whatever period, the student must find his own geographical framework, fixed not from the outside but from within, if he wishes to escape from a world of artificiality.’ 3 Ruim tachtig jaar later moeten we vaststellen dat de dominantie van de natiestaat in de geschiedschrijving nauwelijks onder de vele sindsdien gepubliceerde historisch vergelijkende studies heeft geleden. Ongeveer tien jaar geleden hebben de onderzoekers Michael Werner en Benedicte Zimmermann een histoire croisee genoemde benadering gepresenteerd als nieuwe remedie voor deze moeizame omgang met de natie. 4 Met deze methode bouwen ze voort op het eerder door Zimmermann en anderen gepropageerde onderzoek naar cultuurtransfers, waarbij ze proberen van de problemen van deze aanpak te leren. Onder Duitse en in toenemende mate ook Angelsaksische historici heeft deze benadering veel bijval gekregen. In

Religious regimes: rethinking the societal role of religion in post-war Europe

This article discusses the concept of ‘religious regimes’ in order to identify institutionalised arrangements regulating the social position of religion. By analysing such regimes and the views underpinning them, three visions of the societal role of religion come into focus: segmented pluralism, the Christian nation and the secular nation. Taking up Dutch post-war history as a case study, it becomes clear that religious regimes regularly result from fragile compromises. The concept thus yields insight into the gradual transitions between different institutional arrangements regarding religion and into the impact of changing views on the societal role of religion within and outside religious communities.