This paper analyzes the different conceptions of democracy and development held by distinct actors who participate in an international development program in Nicaragua, involving several European countries, international NGOs and local civil society organizations. The article seeks to understand how the relationship between these actors is crucial to an understanding of the dispute over these meanings. Rather than a simple imposition of practices by international aid agencies, we believe that there are a number of complex mechanisms through which specific logics of action are assimilated. The proposed discussion is part of the debate about the mechanisms of international aid agencies and development aid, and especially about their role in shaping a "global order" essentially anchored in values of democracy and development strongly marked by liberal and institutional values.
international aid; development; democracy; Nicaragua
