ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a nuanced understanding – to operationalize the concept of depoliticization. It compares the extents to which the Slovak and Austrian texts analyzed in the study and the respondents in the related interviews depoliticize and the extents to which they politicize unequal power relations. The chapter shows that unequal gender relations are strongly politicized in development discourse, however, this politicization may contribute to the depoliticization of other unequal power relations. It analyzes further forms of depoliticization – through technological solutions, omission of agents, different temporal frameworks, and an explicit consensus invocation. The chapter argues that there are quite a few politicizing instances in the analyzed texts and interviews that are either weak or overwhelmed by instances of depoliticization, but a few respondents mainly from Austria employed strong forms of politicization. It discusses the unused potential good governance and policy coherence for development provide for the politicization of a government that is, in general, portrayed as a benign force.
