The Slovak NGDO Pontis Foundation’s Depoliticizing Development Discourse
New article by Tomáš Profant was published by Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.
The aim of this text is to find out whether the Pontis Foundation, a Slovak philanthrocapitalist NGO that also engages in development cooperation, depoliticizes unequal power relations in its discourse and if so, how. Using samples of promotional materials published by Pontis, I analyse Pontis’ discursive constructions of legitimation and interviews with respondents from Pontis. My analysis shows that documents published by Pontis do indeed depoliticize unequal power relations, for example, by highlighting the importance of education. I also find that the Foundation’s employees, with the exception of one who comments on the organization’s apolitical stance, exclude politics from their personal perspectives. The article also discusses the question of intentionality in the depoliticizing discourse and the question of the way ideology works in relation to depoliticization.
You can find more about the article here.
Tomáš Profant je výzkumným pracovníkem Ústavu mezinárodních vztahů a mezi jeho oblasti zájmu patří například vztahy mezi globálním Jihem a Severem, postkoloniální a postrozvojový přístup či politická ekonomie EU.