Contested ‘Development’: a Retrospective of the UN Development Programme in Cyprus

Abstract

From its establishment in a newly independent Republic of Cyprus in 1960, the role of the UNDP lay at the forefront of the state’s economic, social and infrastructural growth. Throughout its mission, however, the political developments in Cyprus complicated the UNDP’s position, inherently subject as it was to the birth of a new, yet only shortlived, unitary state. The ‘development’ of the state was soon to be contested primarily between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, to the extent that the UNDP’s own position became integral to the conflict. In turn, the UNDP’s so-called ‘technical’ or ‘functional’ initiatives were to become increasingly politicized, and the UNDP’s goals in Cyprus — those being the ‘creation of national self-reliance’ and ‘the achievement of sustainable development for the island as a whole’ -grew ever more problematic. This chapter only begins to assess the overall achievement of such goals. Nevertheless, the eventual dissolution of the UNDP’s office in Cyprus in April 1997, at a time when third party assistance in various, island-wide developmental issues became if anything more of a priority, makes such an evaluation both timely and necessary.