Crossing the divide: - Maastricht University

empirical research accompanying this form of international cooperation.
Researchers either were not interested, or could not interest funding agencies in
supporting such research. Second, we may conclude that the funding agencies have
not been particularly forthcoming in publishing data on their programmes. Third, we
note that the recipient governments, with some notable exceptions, have not been
interested in sponsoring development-oriented research.
Other relevant literature
One word about these novel forms of cooperation, and the terms that are used to
denote them. The new literature abounds with terms like networks, linkages and
partnerships. In their vagueness they may lose meaning. For the sake of clarity, I
understand cooperation as a form of organised interaction towards a common end
for mutual benefit. 13 A network is a relatively loose form of cooperation in which
coordination is done through horizontal exchanges of information, lacking a clear
hierarchy and a long-term commitment. 14 A partnership is a highly structured form of
cooperation that “entails a long-term commitment and reflects a condition of mutual
dependency [involving] a set of normative rules, determining what behaviour is
permissible and what constitutes a violation of trust. The rules are designed to
facilitate exchange in a situation that would otherwise be open to exploitation”. 16
Over the past two decades these forms of collaboration have been established in
international cooperation in research. Especially in the official development
assistance programmes of donor agencies, they are adopting an increasingly
significant role. Although it is too early to draw final conclusions about these
programmes, a few trends can be noted.
Public support to scientific cooperation has been an increasingly significant factor,
due to the declining budgets for research in poor countries and for developmentoriented
research in the North. Since the funding agencies have been able to call
the tune, they have also had a great influence over the form that such cooperation
takes. The notion of networks, for example, is strong in European programmes
fostering collaboration between researchers in different European countries.
Although there is little research on the costs and benefits of such networks, they are
a commonly accepted requirement for funding (Marschan-Piekkari 2001). The same
model has been applied to cooperation between Europe and poor countries, leading
to ad hoc alliances. It can be seriously questioned if the factor of trust was
sufficiently created in the relations so developed.
Linkage between users and producers in research is another such requirement.
Funding is increasingly made conditional on the involvement of users. Take
biotechnology research sponsored by the Netherlands. It has been based for the
past decade on the notion that user involvement needs to be promoted (Ulmanen
2001: chapter 3). This is hard to achieve in Europe, let alone in countries like
Zimbabwe or India.
A preliminary review by Lotte Asveld (2001), a student-researcher from Maastricht,
indicates that this difficulty is becoming the Achilles heel of development-oriented
research. She shows that researchers, farmers and policymakers may all agree on