Former German minister for development becomes arms lobbyist-why it matters for #globaldev
Dirk Niebel, the former German minister for development cooperation, has joined Rheinmetall as a lobbyist . Given his abysmal performance as politician in charge of development, good governance and human rights this is not at all surprising, or, as the German version of The Onion , Der Postillon puts it: ‘ 0% of respondents were surprised about his career move in a recent poll ’ (in German). But this is not simply about a former politician moving into the famed ‘private sector’, but it raises (at least) three critical issues that I want to point out in the following: First, it shows that traditional, government-run development policy is really in a state of crisis-not just in Germany. Second, Niebel’s case highlights some of the structural problems that ‘open aid’ and open data initiatives still have when faced with unaccountable, yet powerful people and institutions. Third, very much linked to the second point, when arms (deals) are involved development is certainly not in the drive