Aid Power and Politics

Aid Power and Politics PDF

Author: Iliana Olivié

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-07-25

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0429802404

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Aid Power and Politics delves into the political roots of aid policy, demonstrating how and why governments across the world use aid for global influence, and exploring the role it plays in present-day global governance and international relations. In reconsidering aid as part of international relations, the book argues that the interplay between domestic and international development policy works in both directions, with individual countries having the capacity to shape global issues, whilst at the same time, global agreements and trends, in turn, shape the political behaviour of individual countries. Starting with the background of aid policy and international relations, the book goes on to explore the behaviour of both traditional and emerging donors (the US, the UK, the Nordic countries, Japan, Spain, Hungary, Brazil, and the European Union), and then finally looks at some big international agendas which have influenced donors, from the liberal consensus on democracy and good governance, to gender equality and global health. Aid Power and Politics will be an important read for international development students, researchers, practitioners and policy makers, and for anyone who has ever wondered why it is that countries spend so much money on the well-being of non-citizens outside their borders.

The Politics of Aid

The Politics of Aid PDF

Author: Lindsay Whitfield

Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 019956017X

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The volume examines negotiations between rich countries and African governments over what should happen with money given as aid. Describing the history of aid talks the volume presents eight studies of the strategies of negotiation tried by particular African countries.

Development Aid Confronts Politics

Development Aid Confronts Politics PDF

Author: Thomas Carothers

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2013-04-01

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 0870034022

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A new lens on development is changing the world of international aid. The overdue recognition that development in all sectors is an inherently political process is driving aid providers to try to learn how to think and act politically. Major donors are pursuing explicitly political goals alongside their traditional socioeconomic aims and introducing more politically informed methods throughout their work. Yet these changes face an array of external and internal obstacles, from heightened sensitivity on the part of many aid-receiving governments about foreign political interventionism to inflexible aid delivery mechanisms and entrenched technocratic preferences within many aid organizations. This pathbreaking book assesses the progress and pitfalls of the attempted politics revolution in development aid and charts a constructive way forward. Contents: Introduction 1. The New Politics Agenda The Original Framework: 1960s-1980s 2. Apolitical Roots Breaking the Political Taboo: 1990s-2000s 3. The Door Opens to Politics 4. Advancing Political Goals 5. Toward Politically Informed Methods The Way Forward 6. Politically Smart Development Aid 7. The Unresolved Debate on Political Goals 8. The Integration Frontier Conclusion 9. The Long Road to Politics

Aid and Influence

Aid and Influence PDF

Author: Stephen Browne

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9781003134473

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"This book turns the argument about aid effectiveness on its head. Since development assistance is inherently self-interested, a source of soft power, political manipulation and commercial opportunity, its real effectiveness could arguably be judged by the strength of donor influence and not by development impact. Its subjective nature means that its impact on development is often weak, mainly short-term and confined to limited and specific contexts. Aid as influence was prevalent during the Cold War era. The connection is equally strong in this century's newly bipolar world in which the contest is between western donors led by the USA, and China which is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure as a means of influence in the global South. Influence permeates both bilateral and multilateral aid and in parallel with official aid, the rise of global philanthropy has seen it taken up by some of today's billionaires. The response by donors to the growing havoc caused by the three Cs - conflict, climate change and COVID - confirms the main findings of the book, which concludes by outlining what aid without influence would look like. This book draws on the author's 40 years of experience of the aid industry and will be essential reading for development students, practitioners and policy makers alike"--

A World of Homeowners

A World of Homeowners PDF

Author: Nancy Kwak

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2018-09-28

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 022659825X

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In Latin America, Scandinavian housing experts explained that "housing is too important a commodity to be subjected to the same general market conditions as other goods", but the Americans ridiculed such a stance. The Cold War was fought with bricks and mortar, not just small, hot wars in poor places and the threat of nuclear Armageddon. Privatisation began in Malaysia in the 1940s; in West Germany, Taiwan, Burma and South Korea in the 1950s; India in 1964; Jordan in 1965; Brazil in 1966; Guatemala and Nigeria in 1967; and the Philippines (again) in 1968. In the 1960s, the US granted loans to expand the private housing sectors in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. They began housing projects in Rhodesia, Zambia and Mali. They moved into Senegal in 1972, Botswana in 1973, Tanzania in 1974 and Kenya in 1975 - all the while spreading the American dream.

Aid and Influence

Aid and Influence PDF

Author: Stephen Browne

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-05-01

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1000574954

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This book turns the argument about aid effectiveness on its head. Since development assistance is inherently self-interested, a source of soft power, political manipulation and commercial opportunity, its real effectiveness could arguably be judged by the strength of donor influence and not by development impact. Its subjective nature means that its impact on development is often weak, mainly short-term and confined to limited and specific contexts. Aid as influence was prevalent during the Cold War era. The connection is equally strong in this century’s newly bipolar world in which the contest is between western donors led by the United States, and China which is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure as a means of influence in the global South. Influence permeates both bilateral and multilateral aid and in parallel with official aid, the rise of global philanthropy has seen it taken up by some of today’s billionaires. The response by donors to the growing havoc caused by the three Cs – conflict, climate change and COVID-19 – confirms the main findings of the book, which concludes by outlining what aid without influence would look like. This book draws on the author's 40 years of experience of the aid industry and will be essential reading for development students, practitioners and policy makers alike.

Inclusive Aid

Inclusive Aid PDF

Author: Leslie Christine Groves

Publisher: Earthscan

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1849771707

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Rapid and profound changes are taking place in international development. The past two decades have promoted the ideals of participation and partnership, yet key decisions affecting people's lives continue to be made without sufficient attention to the socio-political realities of the countries in which they live. Embedded working traditions, vested interests and institutional inertia mean that old habits and cultures persist among the development community. Planning continues as though it were free of unpredictable interactions among stakeholders. This book is about the need to recognise the complex, non-linear nature of development assistance and how bureaucratic procedures and power relations hinder poverty reduction in the new aid environment. The book begins with a conceptual and historical analysis of aid, exposing the challenges and opportunities facing aid professionals today. It argues for greater attention to accountability and the adoption of rights based approaches. In section two, practitioners, policy makers and researchers discuss the realities of power and relationships from their experiences across sixteen countries. Their accounts, from government, donors and civil society, expose the highly politicised and dynamic aid environment in which they work. Section three explores ways forward for aid agencies, challenging existing political, institutional and personal ways of working. Authors describe procedural innovations as strategic ways to leverage change. Breaking the barriers to ensure more inclusive aid will require visionary leadership and a courageous commitment to change. Crucially, the authors show how translating rhetoric into practice relies on changing the attitudes and behaviours of individual actors. Only then is the ambitious agenda of the Millennium Development Goals likely to be met. The result is an indispensable contribution to the understanding of how development assistance and poverty reduction can be most effectively delivered by the professionals and agencies involved.

Why We Lie About Aid

Why We Lie About Aid PDF

Author: Pablo Yanguas

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2018-02-15

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1783609362

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Foreign aid is about charity. International development is about technical fixes. At least that is what we, as donor publics, are constantly told. The result is a highly dysfunctional aid system which mistakes short-term results for long-term transformation and gets attacked across the political spectrum, with the right claiming we spend too much, and the left that we don't spend enough. The reality, as Yanguas argues in this highly provocative book, is that aid isn't – or at least shouldn't be – about levels of spending, nor interventions shackled to vague notions of ‘accountability’ and ‘ownership’. Instead, a different approach is possible, one that acknowledges aid as being about struggle, about taking sides, about politics. It is an approach that has been quietly applied by innovative development practitioners around the world, providing political coverage for local reformers to open up spaces for change. Drawing on a variety of convention-defying stories from a variety of countries – from Britain to the US, Sierra Leone to Honduras – Yanguas provides an eye-opening account of what we really mean when we talk about aid.

Corridors of Power

Corridors of Power PDF

Author: Catherine A. Corson

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2016-01-01

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 0300212275

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The Politics of Humanitarianism

The Politics of Humanitarianism PDF

Author: Antonio de Lauri

Publisher: I.B. Tauris

Published: 2015-10-22

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781780768304

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Humanitarian intervention has increasingly become the prevalent means of providing protection and aid at a global level. Yet alongside its success concerns have been raised that humanitarianism has increasingly become an economic enterprise and a political tool for controlling territories and governing international relations. In The Politics of Humanitarianism authors from a variety of disciplines provide a comprehensive critique of the humanitarian enterprise. How are those on the end of humanitarian action influenced by different epistemologies and applications of international law? What is the complex relationship between values - what humanitarian action is intended to be - and practice - what happens on the ground? Combining international case studies with critical theoretical evaluations, and including chapters on international aid, refugees, childhood and women's rights, The Politics of Humanitarianism offers a timely and critical analysis of the contemporary humanitarian system.