Private sector development as poverty and strategic discourse: PSD in the political economy of|EU-Africa trade relations

Private sector development (PSD) has emerged as a core component of donor strategies aimed at making free markets work for 'the poor' through assistance to business sector capacity in low-income states. PSD initiatives cannot be understood, however, as technical exercises aimed solely at promoting development through business competitiveness. Instead they serve as normative concessions through which developmentally questionable market-opening has been rationalized by donors in pursuit of lucrative commercial opportunities in emerging economies. Examining the European Union?s (EU) PSD framework in bilateral relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, the article examines the utilisation of PSD discourse in the 'development branding' of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). PSD discourse is seen to facilitate a 'double-veiling' of asymmetric ACP?EU trade ties via legitimising images of equitable market-opening and the trickle-down of business wealth to 'the poor'.