Ulrich Schiefer (born September 10, 1952, in Lauffen am Neckar) is a German rural and development sociologist and anthropologist. His main interests are development policy and international development cooperation, especially their impact on sub-Saharan Africa.
Biography
Ulrich Schiefer studied sociology with Christian Sigrist and Song Du-yul at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Social anthropology with Rüdiger Schott and Ulrich Köhler, Sinology with Ulrich Unger as well as Communication studies. After his Magister degree in sociology (1977) on Agricultural cooperatives in the People's Republic of China, he worked as a United Nations volunteer in urban and regional planning in Guinea-Bissau. On his return, he studied the establishment of colonial commercial and administrative structures and their transformation in the post-colonial period in Guinea-Bissau for his Doctorate (PhD) (1984).Guiné-Bissau zwischen Weltwirtschaft und Subsistenz: transatlantisch orientierte Strukturen an der oberen Guinéküste – Social Science Open Access Repository In 2000, he obtained his Habilitation (state doctorate) in Münster on " Dissipative Economy: Development Cooperation and the Collapse of African Agrarian Societies“.Dissipative Ökonomie und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit und der Zusammenbruch afrikanischer Agrargesellschaften am Beispiel Guinea-Bissaus – Social Science Open Access RepositoryUlrich Schiefer – Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek In 2013, he obtained another habilitation in sociology at the ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon.Curriculum Vitae Ulrich Schiefer – Portugiesisches Ministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft
Professional career
From 1986, he was the research assistant at the Institute for Sociology at the University of Münster, where he led the field research of the project "Agrarian Societies and Rural Development Policies in Guinea-Bissau" which was directed by Christian Sigrist and funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. This was followed by the establishment of a national research center in Guinea-Bissau. Basic research on the changes of war-traumatised agricultural societies and post-colonial development models as well as applied research for development agencies formed the starting point for new theoretical and methodological approaches to development policy.Guiné-Bissau: Probleme beim 'Nationalen Wiederaufbau' eines befreiten Landes – Essay über die Möglichkeit des Scheiterns – PDF 1,72 MB, Social Science Open Access Repository He advised several international organisations, particularly in the fields of Regional development, planning and evaluation, organisation and network development. He carried out field research in Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Angola and supported the introduction of the planning and evaluation methodology he developed in the successor states of the former Soviet Union as well as in Portugal.Prefácio. Cooperação sem Desenvolvimento – PDF, Social Science Open Access Repository The main focus of his academic teaching activities are development and humanitarian interventions and their impact on the disintegration of African societies as well as organisational development.Projetos de Investigação – Portugiesisches Ministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft From 2002 to 2013 he was lecturer (Privatdozent) at the Institute for Sociology at the University of Münster and in 2014 guest professor at the University of Graz. Since 1993 he is professor at the ISCTE (-IUL) in Lisbon, focusing on African studies and organisational development. From 2011 to 2016, he was coordinator of a Master's course in African Studies and a Postgraduate Course in Organisational Development in Public Administration at the ISCTE (-IUL). Since 2016 he is director of the doctoral course in African studies.
Research
Field research in Africa
As the last countries in Africa, the Portuguese colonies reached their independence after a ten-year war of independence, which was only ended by the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974.Geister und Gewehre – Ethnien, Macht und Staat in Guinea Bissau – Ulrich Schiefer, 1994, Social Science Open Access Repository Development aid together with Military aid, played an important role in the conflict between the rival Great Powers in the Cold War for their spheres of interest in Africa. The inflow of international development aid, especially to Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, also opened up opportunities for the social scientific research of these societies by international scientists.Macht, Praxis, Sinn: Randbemerkungen zur empirischen Sozialforschung in Afrika – Social Science Open Access Repository The violent decolonisation led to long-lasting Civil wars in Angola and Mozambique and to a Coup d'état in Guinea-Bissau in 1998,Documentação sobre o Golpe de Estado na Guiné-Bissau – ISCTE, Universitätsinstitut Lissabon followed by a one-year Civil war.Falhanço em cascata: como Sociedades Agrárias Africanas em colapso perdem o controlo sobre os seus cadetes – Researchgate Ulrich Schiefer conducted various interdisciplinary research projects, among others, on the potential for development of war traumatised African agrarian societies and the development strategies of post-colonial states in West Africa, especially in Guinea-Bissau.Inovações tradicionais: Organizações civis de sociedades – Por dentro da África – Blog von Ulrich Schiefer auf pordentrodaafrica.comSociedades Agrárias Africanas: O milagre da vida, a maravilha da existência e a magia do poder – Por dentro da África – Blog von Ulrich Schiefer auf pordentrodaafrica.com Sociedades Agrárias Africanas: Tribos e tribalismos – Por dentro da África – Blog von Ulrich Schiefer auf pordentrodaafrica.com Sociedades Agrárias Africanas: Produzir pela Vida – Por dentro da África – Blog von Ulrich Schiefer auf pordentrodaafrica.com Sociedades Agrárias Africanas: Um Modelo de Sucesso – Por dentro da África – Blog von Ulrich Schiefer auf pordentrodaafrica.com Sociedades Africanas: Desenvolvimento ou Desintegração? – Por dentro da África – Blog von Ulrich Schiefer auf pordentrodaafrica.com The emergence of colonial trade and administrative structures and their continuity after independence provided the background for the continuity of the colonial counter-insurgency strategy in the development planning of the postcolonial state.Guiné-Bissau zwischen Weltwirtschaft und Subsistenz : transatlantisch orientierte Strukturen an der oberen Guinéküste – Social Science Open Access Repository He pointed out the failure of externally induced development strategies on African agrarian societies in numerous detailed investigations, among others, on post-harvest protection,Armazenamento tradicional na Guiné-Bissau: produtos, sementes e celeiros – PDF 36,8 MB, academia.edu on the development of industry and handicraft, on transport, on agrarian cooperatives, on the development cooperation of Portuguese civil societyA Cooperação da Sociedade Civil Portuguesa na Área da Solidariedade Social – PDF, Social Science Open Access Repository and on the impact of structural adjustment measures on the situation of African families.Von der fiktiven Planwirtschaft zur simulierten Marktwirtschaft Betrachtungen zur Wirtschaftsreform in Guinea-Bissau – academia.edu His fundamental criticism of development cooperation establishes a direct link between the development strategies – including their operational implementation through the project approach – and the collapse of African societies.Integrated Evaluation of Change. A new perspective for planning and evaluation in multiple intervention environments. – Ulrich Schiefer, Social Science Open Access Repository Ulrich Schiefer – alle Downloads, Social Science Open Access Repository
Theory of dissipative economy
The development strategies of the last decades have not led to the desired successes. Instead, numerous states in sub-Saharan Africa are in a continuous process of social disintegration. With his mainly sociological research on development, Schiefer wants to contribute to a theory of social collapse. He asks how far international aid is responsible for the destabilisation and collapse of post-colonial states and societies. On the basis of more than fifteen years of research, he analyses this nexus using the example of Guinea-Bissau. He reconstructs the overall socio-political developments, and examines the effects of development aid specifically on agrarian societies. Given the obvious failures of both theory and practice of development cooperation, based on the terminology and inspired by the work of Ilya Prigogines, Schiefer conceived the concept of "dissipative economy". In the seventies the chemist Ilya Prigogine studied the theory of non-equilibrium dynamics. Almost all the laws of classical physics were concerned with closed systems of equilibrium, which in practice are nearly non-existent. He studied open systems that continually exchange energy or matter with their environment, i.e. are not in thermodynamic equilibrium.Energieentwertung und Entropie – PDF 58,3 kB, H. Joachim Schlichting, University of Münster In open systems spontaneous structures can form.Von der Dissipation zur dissipativen Struktur – PDF 1,2 MB, H. Joachim Schlichting, University of Münster Their existence depends decisively on the system parameters. Already small variations can destroy the order and the system goes over into a chaotic phase. Prigogine created the term dissipative structure.Ilya Prigogine: Wissenschaft und schöpferische Evolution – PDF 490 kB, Herbert J. Klima, holimen.tv Ilya Prigogine Botschafter des Dialogs mit der Natur – PDF 167 kB, Vasileios Basios, smn.germany.de Since then, many scientists have confirmed that this model is applicable to any open system. In 1977 Prigogine received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contribution to the theory of equilibrium irreversible dissipative structures.Autobiografische Nobelpreisrede – Ilya Prigogine, 1977, nobelprize.org Schiefer's dissipative economy translates this approach to development cooperation and humanitarian aid. It thus provides an explanatory approach for the emergence and continuation of almost similar organisational landscapes in many, often very different, so-called developing countries. The development agencies, from the large international and national organisations to the small non-governmental organisations, thus appear as dissipative structures. They function only through the provision of a regular inflow of development aid. The funding of the internal players is guaranteed by an external inflow of money by the external agencies. These ensure their outflow through project funding and the like. These funds flow into a national economy mostly concentrated in the cities. There, they are then largely used in an unproductive manner. This whole sector of the economy which is dependent on a continuous external input Schiefer defines as dissipative economy.
Work on unsolved problems in Africa Meticulous studies show the destructive and often irreversible effects of the international development policy, mainly based on technology transfer, on agrarian societies. The consequences are: decline in productivity, food crises, rapid urbanisation, political instability, forced migrations and violent conflicts which provide the background for post-colonial state failures and social disintegration in sub-Saharan Africa. This approach contributes to the theory about the collapse of societies. It describes the interactions between the development agencies and the respective national elites and their connection to the internal dynamics of African societies.