Regulated Improvisations: bringing the private sector back into the International Development Cooperation field

Abstract

This article questions why and how the private sector was articulated as a legitimate agent in a field almost entirely dominated, until the 2000s, by DAC donors. We argue that private agents were admitted in the field across the fractures produced by SSCP and throughout a series of normative and managerial adjustments, which we called here regulated improvisations. in of diversification of and products. investments in developing countries – and in the developed are as business opportunities, despite the risks involved. On the other hand, companies provide jobs, infrastructure, innovation and social service, among others (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2016).