NN40, May 2008
Education for Sustainable Development? Or The Sustainability of Education Investment? A Special Issue
Limited Sustainability of Development Research in Austria?
By Birgit Habermann [a] and Margarita Langthaler [b] a ? Austrian Academy of Sciences; b - Österreichische Forschungsstiftung für Internationale Entwicklung - ÖFSE
Emails: Birgit.Habermann@oeaw.ac.at and M.Langthaler@oefse.atKeywords
Development Research in Austria, Global Challenges, Cross-Disciplinary Approach
Summary
Faced with multiple challenges in a globalised world, the question arises whether the highly fragmented Austrian development research landscape is prepared to find adequate and sustainable answers.
Faced with a rapidly changing world, development research all over Europe and beyond has to question whether the kind of work it offers is still adequate. Austria is no exception, indeed.
Development research in Austria is, in contrast to many European countries and in particular the Anglo-Saxon world, a highly marginalised field. It is, moreover, substantially fragmented. Different approaches, different languages, different understandings of basic terms such as ?development? and different objectives lead to an Austrian development research landscape characterised by parallel rather than synergistic ways of working, by mutually applied prejudices and by competition rather than cooperation. In short ? we do not live as we preach.
When we talk about ?development research?, our understanding goes beyond a traditional definition of ?development studies? as such. We distinguish three main approaches to development research in Austria: Research ON development is done mainly by social sciences, humanities and economics. It deals with development as a social phenomenon. Research FOR development is more oriented towards technical, agro- and natural sciences, but with an increasingly strong social science orientation. It might be defined as applied research supporting innovation processes in developing countries. Development policy research covers research and consultancy about/for policy, strategy and practice of development cooperation, and research on development politics.
As horizontal fields we consider research in the context of development issues, and random or unintended development-related research. Both deal in some way with development-relevant issues, either by research topics such as poverty reduction or by location, such as tropical biology carried out in developing countries.
Austrian researchers working in this field sometimes show little interest in or knowledge about development issues. Furthermore, until the 1990s interrelations between environment and development oriented science were limited. Globalisation and the accompanying changed understanding of global connections in both social and environmental areas of research made it necessary for Austrian scientists to look beyond European borders on a larger scale. This trend started with the emergence of a number of very active NGOs in the environmental sector, the anti-globalisation movement and a rising consciousness for global interconnectedness in sustainability science. Research FOR development found an easier entry-point into sustainable development, while for scientists in other areas this was not seen as a priority for much longer. Only very recently, a structured dialogue between social sciences, or the research ON development approach, and the environmental movement has started.
Yet, the question arises whether Austrian development research with the above described features is prepared to respond to the manifold challenges that have emerged in the global development debate. In fact, globalisation and its side effects such as unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, rising inequality in and between nations, growing marginalisation and social disintegration, food and energy crises, diseases and health risks such as the HIV/Aids pandemic or the avian flu ? in brief, globalisation has generated challenges that tend to erase geographical and disciplinary boundaries. They are complex and of global relevance by nature. They require answers that single-disciplined and geographically limited scientific approaches are not able to give.
The development discourse is trying to subsume the necessary answers to the above outlined global challenges in the term ?sustainable development?. While the notion might be questionable since it is far from reflecting the issues? complexity, it however contains a few crucial considerations: the concept of sustainable development applies to rich and poor countries alike and it is multidimensional, i.e. it has to account for the economic, social, ecological and cultural level.
In this context, the question arises whether development research in Austria, and this might apply to other countries as well, still has a significant role to fulfil or rather, is doomed to perish in insignificance? In other words, is it at all sustainable? Those research groups entirely depending on external funds and donor money perceive increasing pressure from a kind of utilitarian approach requiring applicable research and empirical consultancy. Space for analytical and reflection-oriented research, in particular if it has a critical stance, is narrowing. The global trend of commoditisation of education, science and research has strengthened a market logic, which, at least in Austria, significantly limits scientific interest in development research.
However, we believe that Austrian development research, and this as well might apply to other countries, really needs to reinvent itself, if it wants to contribute to sustainable development as a global concept. Firstly, this means to seek ways of constructive and synergistic cooperation across all three described approaches. A cross-disciplinary approach is particularly needed between social and natural sciences, or in terms of this contribution, between research ON and research FOR development.
Secondly, dialogue between science and society has to be strengthened in order to be able to contribute to societal development in Austria and beyond. The focus needs to shift onto global approaches rather than continuously isolating issues of developing countries from issues of ?the North?. This would imply, however, to substantially increase the weight of stakeholders in partner countries in the Northern debates. The question remains, if we are willing to concede power to other actors, and if we are in a position to do so, especially in light of the growing dependency of development research on donor priorities.
Further resources
Leach, M. and Scoones, I. (2005). Science and citizenship in a global context. In: Science and Citizens. Globalization & the challenge of engagement. M. Leach, I. Scoones and B. Wynne. London New York, Zed Books: 15-38.
Haddad, L. and Knowles, C. (2007) Reinventing Development Research. IDS Bulletin, Volume 38, Number 2, March 2007, Brighton/UK.
Sumner, A. and Tribe, M. (2007) Doing cross-disciplinary development research: what, how, when? Discussion Paper for DSA Conference Panel on ?Is Trans-Disciplinarity Feasible in Development Research?? DSA Annual Conference, September 2007, Brighton.
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