There is a strong upward trend in the amounts spent on development aid. In 2022, the total amount of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) was five times higher than in 1960. The European Union is...Show moreThere is a strong upward trend in the amounts spent on development aid. In 2022, the total amount of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) was five times higher than in 1960. The European Union is responsible for about two-thirds of humanitarian aid worldwide. However, it is questionable whether development aid is actually effective. A ‘least-likely case’ is Nigeria, it received 9 billion euros from the EU in the period of 2007-2024. Yet it has one of the worst development factors in Sub-Saharan Africa. This Thesis aims to find an answer to the question of whether European development aid was really effective in Nigeria, and whether the targets the European Union set itself were actually achieved. This is done by using the National Indicative Programme (NIP) that ran from 2014-2020. The analysis shows that despite achieving some of the objectives examined in the health care sector, the NIP has mostly failed to achieve the desired impact. Primarily, the high level of corruption ensured that few development objectives have been realized. Therefore, it can be concluded that European Development aid has not really been effective. For further research, it would be valuable to look at the Multi-Annual Indicative Programme (MIP) that runs from 2021-2027. Here, slightly different targets have been set that may give different results. In addition, it may be of added value to conduct a study of how Nigerian agencies report, since there are sometimes substantial differences between the observations of NGOs and these agencies, which can lead to different interpretations. This could possibly engender a different observation of aid effectiveness as well.Show less
President Trump’s inconsistent politics, full of threats and accusations, continues to affect the credibility of the United States well beyond the expiry of his presidency. This thesis explores the...Show morePresident Trump’s inconsistent politics, full of threats and accusations, continues to affect the credibility of the United States well beyond the expiry of his presidency. This thesis explores the effects of this diminishing credibility on the foreign policy of adversaries towards the United States. It contains a qualitative content analysis of Iranian government officials’ statements regarding the United States in context of the JCPOA. The results confirm Yarhi-Milo’s (2018) expectation: Iran is aggressively testing the limits of the United States’ tolerance in the context of its diminishing credibility since the Trump administration.Show less
