With a Little Help From My Friends

The concept of cultural affinity has become increasingly prominent in international cooperation, where it is commonly understood as shared dispositions, values, language, cultural references and worldviews. Cultural affinity is held to make cooperation easier, due to greater mutual understanding between counterparts. In the context of international capacity development, the idea of cultural affinity plays a role as an argument for preferring South–South cooperation over traditional North–South cooperation. The underlying assumption is that cultural affinity between counterparts creates more acceptable and effective relations, in turn leading to more sustainable programmatic outcomes.

This policy brief discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the cultural affinity assumption in the context of the IGAD initiative in South Sudan.

Link to brief

The brief is published as part of the outcome from the International Capacity Research Initiative (ICRI). ICRI is a co-funded research cooperation on capacity development in fragile states between the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS); the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office Office (UNPBSO); Noref; and the Training for Peace programme (TfP) at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI).

For further information, contact DIIS project researcher Frederik Rosén.

See also

Civilian capacity in the aftermath of conflict. The IGAD Initiative in South Sudan: a case study in the context of the OPEN framework, DIIS Policy Brief, May 2013

Noref policy brief Building on governance capacity in fragile states.