ABSTRACT
Scholars and development practitioners have demanded more ownership of development by African countries, either through more commitment from African governments to donor policies or African governments’ having more control over the policy process. This chapter demonstrates the theoretical purchase of exploring the ideational aspects of ownership. I explain why discourse analysis provides greater insight than institutional analysis into how ownership operates. I offer decolonial theory as a more generative lens for understanding the power dynamics internal to the development ownership paradigm and discourse. As such, decolonial theory points to the ways in which ownership does not rupture the aspects of coloniality that center donors as necessary experts for development. In this chapter, I also provide a more detailed explanation of my methods and case selection.
