ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the policy development through identifying and following discourses and their central objects, the two most central ones being the universalist and localist. These discourses are an intentional simplification; entanglements, complexities and dependencies between them are both expected and recognized. The discourses represent an ideational heritage of sorts, which keeps being reflected, reinterpreted and renegotiated with time and new influences. The two discourses share the starting point that so-called Western modern science can contribute to development and that local/national research capacity is important for the production and/or use of research results. Swedish research aid entails handling political and scientific influences from several directions, being on the boundary between two political policy spheres. The overarching goal of Swedish foreign aid is to contribute to poverty reduction in low-income countries while the goal of research, somewhat simplified, is to produce new knowledge and contribute to national development.
