Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. This book explores the network of meaning that emanates from the global call for more ownership. It traces how development actors, specifically those understood as donors, government officials, and civil society members, navigate, adopt, reject, and/or negotiate the ownership discourse in Burkina Faso and Kenya. The book presents the first empirical case study, Burkina Faso, in which all development stakeholders have fully adopted the ownership principles under the pretense of there being a Faustian-type bargain between the government and donors. It then presents the second empirical case of an African country that has taken up the ownership paradigm for its development ends. The Kenyan government, although displaying a mastery of the development lexis and an expressed commitment to the principles, remains in a paternalistic relationship with donors.