WRITING THE HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT AID

International aid has been a significant element both in economic development and international politics since 1945, but has been insufficiently integrated in the discipline of history. The present article discusses the main problems of method, sources and discourse in the field of aid history, based on the recently published three‐volume history of Norwegian development aid. The shifting conjunctures of aid are seen in relation to main paradigm changes in development theory. It is emphasized that history is not a macro‐evaluation, but that it provides a basis for reflection, in this as in other fields.