Aid and Influence

Aid is always a means of influence: political, commercial, military and security-related. Some influence is benign, but much of it is coercive, even imperialistic. Given the nature of aid, its effectiveness should be judged not only in developmental terms, but in terms of international relations. Even donors agree that, on both counts, the returns are meagre. This book, drawing on the author's 30 years of field experience, proposes two kinds of solution: donors should climb down from paternalistic central planning practices and support public goods that are neutral and beneficial ? cancellation of debt, fair trade, responsible economic governance, vaccine production, peace-making and peace-keeping. For their part, developing countries should follow the example of the most successful among them: recognize the true costs of free aid, exercise their prerogative to choose their development partners and start paying their own way.

ISBN 1844072029   Pages 192 ISBN13 9781844072026 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd   Weight (grammes) 294 Imprint Earthscan Ltd   Published in London Format Paperback   Height (mm) 240 Publication date 01 Jul 2006   Width (mm) 160 Library of Congress 2006005899   Spine width (mm) 15 DEWEY 338.91   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

1		The great mismatch		1
2		Aid origins		15
3		Evolving development fashions		23
4		Influence through conditionality		43
5		Aid to fragile states		59
6		Aid and imperialism		99
7		Donors from the south		121
8		New beginnings : a market for aid		135

'This powerful critique of aid by a distinguished practitioner cannot be brushed aside. As Browne argues, doubling aid without radical redesign is unlikely to deliver accelerated development. He offers an attractive recipe for reform.' Paul Collier, Professor of Economics, Oxford University 'Stephen Browne provides a radical and original take on a familiar subject, with careful analysis and drawing on a wealth of personal experience ... Readable stuff, destined to make those in the aid business think harder.' Sir Richard Jolly, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex 'The book is excellent, laudable, readable and an accurate diagnosis of all that is wrong with aid. It should be essential reading for students and for anyone who still thinks that donors really are doing their best for poor countries' Development and Change, Vol. 38, No.3, May 2007

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