"I would love to share with you briefly my research process/outcomes (of my master thesis) so far. The past few months I looked into Circular Economy in the African-European "development" cooperation, considering policy papers and one small case study".
Day/Time: Wednesday 5th June, 11 AM (at the conference room)
Abstract:
Since the new Circular Economy Action Plan of the European Union 2020, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has become increasingly relevant in the European-African “development” apparatus. Building on critical literature concerning both, CE and the “development” apparatus, this thesis examines the current CE policy discourse between Africa and the EU. Additionally, a case study explores a CE “development” project and its possible implications. The results show that the discourse is largely in-line with the previously characterized “development” discourse, being a-political, technological-focused and standardising/homogenising. The case study results in three themes: (i) the dumping narrative; (ii) multi-level governance and (iii) cherry-picking as problem construction. Integrating the results and existing literature, this paper demonstrates possible social justice implications, such as enhancing distributional injustice through disregarding certain risks/costs. Overall, the results show the importance, multiplicity and interconnectedness of social justice dimensions for CE within the “development” apparatus.