The Slovak NGDO Pontis Foundation’s depoliticizing development discourse

Tomáš Profant

Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 2018, vol. 26, issue 1, 69-85

Abstract: The aim of this text is to find out whether the Pontis Foundation, a Slovak philanthrocapitalist NGO that also engages in development cooperation, depoliticizes unequal power relations in its discourse and if so, how. Using samples of promotional materials published by Pontis, I analyze Pontis’ discursive constructions of legitimation and interviews with respondents from Pontis. My analysis shows that documents published by Pontis do indeed depoliticize unequal power relations, for example, by highlighting the importance of education. I also find that the Foundation’s employees, with the exception of one who comments on the organization’s apolitical stance, exclude politics from their personal perspectives. The article also discusses the question of intentionality in the depoliticizing discourse and the question of the way ideology works in relation to depoliticization.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1080/25739638.2017.1405900

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