From science as "development assistance" to "global philanthropy"

Abstract

This chapter reconstructs the main lines of evolution of science for development highlighting some initiatives that targeted infrastructure, health, capacity building, natural resources, international trade and competitiveness. The mounting trend of business-foundation collaboration has crystallized in the term "philanthrocapitalism", which tries to sell the idea of the philanthropic largesse and social-entrepreneurial mission of new billionaires of the 1990s as unprecedented and capable of "saving the world". The chapter reviews the way the United Nations' platforms came to complement or be subordinated to powerful individual or country programs. It finally focuses the increasing role of business philanthropy and charitable investment within the growth of corporate social responsibility (CSR) models and the associated actual and symbolic role of experts and expertise, including the recent multiplication of "think tanks" and consulting work for public policies in developing countries. The Rockefeller and Gates Foundations are two remarkable examples of the nature of philanthropy in the contemporary world.