Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #424936 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Just Faaland, Former Director. Christian Michelsen Institute, Norway
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Stephen Browne takes our story,
tests it against many countries and periods and discovers the wide
prevalence of aid and influence.

Paul Collier, Oxford University
This powerful critique of aid by a distinguished practitioner
cannot be brushed aside.

Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore
This book is badly needed. It answers the question on everyone's
mind: why has aid often failed to trigger successful development?