This file is a single-author policy essay. Kerschagl writes in the early Cold War and decolonization context, asking whether Western aid to newly independent and poorer states is justified, and under what institutional conditions it can work. His thesis is guardedly affirmative: aid is necessary, but only if stripped of sentimental expectations, tied to education and production, supervised internationally, and pursued with patience.
Das Urteil über Notwendigkeit und Zweckmäßigkeit der Entwicklungshilfe ist im Westen durchaus nicht einheitlich.
English translation: The judgment concerning the necessity and expediency of development aid is by no means uniform in the West.
The essay first reconstructs the Western case against development aid: expropriations of foreign property, socialist programs, dictatorships, corruption, capital flight, weak returns, nationalism, religious persecution, and unstable state formation. Kerschagl does not dismiss these objections; he uses them to show that aid cannot be defended as a simple diplomatic purchase.
Natürlich könne man in der Regel Freunde und Verbündete nicht kaufen.
English translation: Of course, friends and allies cannot, as a rule, be bought.
His reply combines anti-communist strategy with a moral claim. The Marshall Plan is the model: aid may not buy allies, but it can neutralize opponents and reduce communist opportunity. Yet he also insists that help must not become crude intervention in domestic affairs. Its deeper justification is a new humanitas rather than colonial guilt, and its logic is preventive rather than reparative.
Diese Hilfe müsse aber so rasch wie möglich geleistet werden; denn es sei besser, einen Brand in seinen Anfängen zu löschen als bereits niedergebrannte Ruinen nutzlos unter Einsatz einer wirtschaftlichen oder politischen Feuerwehr zu retten.
English translation: But this aid, it is said, must be rendered as quickly as possible; for it is better to extinguish a fire at its beginnings than uselessly to try to salvage already burned-out ruins by deploying an economic or political fire brigade.
The most technical section, “Formen der Finanzhilfe,” contrasts Western financial contracts—free dollars, interest, collateral, World Bank conditions—with Eastern long-term trade credits, commodity repayment, and expert supervision. Kerschagl criticizes Eastern hidden costs, especially overpricing and underpricing, but still thinks the West should learn from aid embedded in trade relations rather than hard-currency debt.
Der Verzicht auf freie Valuten und die Bereitschaft, die Kredite in Warenlieferungen abdecken zu lassen, sind zweifellos der westlichen Methode vorzuziehen.
English translation: The renunciation of free currencies and the willingness to have credits settled through deliveries of goods are undoubtedly preferable to the Western method.
This leads to one of the essay’s central conceptual moves: the issue is not control versus no control, but how to make control effective without provoking sovereignty objections. He wants supervision internationalized, professionalized, and detached from neocolonial appearance.
Angesichts der großen Korruptionsgefahr dreht es sich wirklich nicht darum, ob eine Kontrolle ausgeübt werden soll, sondern wie sie wirksam gestaltet werden kann, ohne das äußerst heikle Souveränitätsproblem stark zu berühren.
English translation: In view of the great danger of corruption, the question is really not whether control should be exercised, but how it can be made effective without impinging heavily on the extremely delicate problem of sovereignty.
The institutional survey—IFC, IDA, EXIMBANK, bilateral American programs, churches, UNESCO, FAO, ILO, UNICEF, UNHCR, and ECOSOC—shows a Western aid apparatus expanding faster than it can coordinate. His call for an expert umbrella organization follows from the comparison between Western quantity and Eastern selectivity: by 1964, he estimates about ninety billion Western dollars against four billion Eastern dollars, but draws the lesson that organization matters more than volume.
Erfolge sind eben nicht nur eine Frage der Geldsumme, sondern zumindest ebenso eine Frage des geschickten Einsatzes.
English translation: Successes are not only a matter of the sum of money, but at least equally a matter of its skillful deployment.
The section on education turns aid into a question of human capital. Literacy, teacher training, secondary and technical schools, academies, and universities form a developmental sequence; higher education alone risks alienating elites, while primary education faces immense linguistic and staffing obstacles. Against the earlier Western belief that material welfare must precede intellectual formation, Kerschagl insists that education is foundational.
Alle materielle Hilfe wäre völlig sinnlos, wäre sie nicht von Bildungshilfe begleitet. Man kann weder einen modernen Staat noch eine Industriegesellschaft oder einen Wohlfahrtsstaat mit Analphabeten aufbauen.
English translation: All material aid would be entirely pointless if it were not accompanied by educational aid. One can build neither a modern state nor an industrial society nor a welfare state with illiterates.
The concluding argument is an ethic of obligation disciplined by realism. East-West agreement is imaginable where aid is neither charity nor arms credit: debtor dominance should be broken, neutral controls established, aggressors denied assistance, and genuine partnership required. Kerschagl also rejects prestige industrialization, preferring agricultural improvement, industries linked to agriculture, and production suited to real comparative advantages. The essay’s language often reflects the paternalism of its era, but its questions—aid, accountability, education, sovereignty, and institutional design—remain recognizable.
Zur Erleichterung auch nur bescheidener Erfolge bedarf es Geduld, Nachsicht, Energie und eben verhältnismäßig langer Zeit.
English translation: To facilitate even modest successes, one needs patience, forbearance, energy, and indeed a relatively long time.
This work was divided into 6 sections when it entered the library's research corpus—an apparatus for search and citation, not necessarily the author's own table of contents. Each title opens its summary.
Put a question to this work; the Librarian answers from its 6 sections and cites the passage.
Ask the Librarian