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Begin New Search Topic Foreign Aid Political Geography Global Focus

31. Putting politics into international development? It’s about time

Author:
Charles Cadwell
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Urban Institute
Abstract:
It may be difficult in the current political season to welcome news that international development agencies are paying more attention to the politics of reform when designing their assistance programs to poor countries. But we should be relieved that agencies like the World Bank, the UK’s Department for International Development, and our own US Agency for International Development are doing just that. For too long, aid programs operated with the convenient fiction that assistance work was purely technical. The premise of many programs was “simply transfer missing knowledge, skills, or cash to people in the foreign government or local organizations, and they could adopt policies and programs to promote growth and reduce poverty."
Topic:
Poverty, Foreign Aid, International Development, and Economic Growth
Political Geography:
Europe, Global Focus, and United States of America

32. Aid for governance: How to support effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions for sustainable development?

Author:
Rachel M. Gisselquist and Danielle Resnick
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Aiding government effectiveness in developing countries has been a priority issue for the international donor community since the 1990s. With the Paris Declaration in 1994, donors further committed to aiding government effectiveness in a manner consistent with local ownership and harmonization with national development objectives. These issues have received renewed attention in discussions surrounding the Sustainable Development Goals, which have highlighted the importance of effective governance and institutions.
Topic:
Development, Foreign Aid, Governance, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
Global Focus

33. Four key areas to improve aid effectiveness

Author:
Tony Addison and Finn Tarp
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The design and implementation of effective aid policy requires a deeper understanding of the impact of aid and the overall environment in which development aid operates. This policy brief addresses four areas which are key to understanding how aid works: the relationship between aid and economic growth, the effects of aid volatility, the benefits of co-operation, and the macroeconomic management of aid flows.
Topic:
Foreign Aid, Economic Growth, and Macroeconomics
Political Geography:
Global Focus

34. Why Give Aid to Resource-Rich Autocrats?

Author:
Mare Sarr, Chiara Ravetti, and Tim Swanson
Publication Date:
11-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute (IHEID)
Abstract:
Why give aid to resource-rich autocrats? We find that the interaction between natural resources and most forms of international aid results in enhanced political instability in most autocratic countries. Interestingly, some types of government aid (notably humanitarian aid) do not have this effect, indicating that the impact of aid varies with its form. Furthermore, we find that only aid structured in the form of loans (rather than grants) is more likely to flow toward resource-rich autocracies. This combination of loans with any political instability they may induce, can create speculative rights (for the donor) in the resource-riches of the recipient country. This potential claim on resources provides one important strategic reason to give aid to resource-rich autocrats. Aid can act as a form of foreign intervention in the pursuit of regime change, and claims on resources.
Topic:
Foreign Aid, Economic Growth, Dictatorship, Autocracy, Resource Management, and Looting
Political Geography:
Global Focus

35. Foreign Aid – A Fillip for Development or a Fuel for Corruption?

Author:
Keith Blackburn and Gonzalo F. Forgues-Puccio
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
We present an analysis of the effects of foreign aid on economic development when the quality of governance may be compromised by corruption. The analysis is based on a dynamic general equilibrium model in which growth is driven by capital accumulation and public policy is administered by government-appointed bureaucrats. Corruption may arise due to the opportunity for bureaucrats to embezzle public funds which are otherwise used to provide productive public goods and services. Our main results may be summarized as follows: (1) corruption impedes economic development and compromises the effectiveness of aid programmers; (2) the incidence of corruption may, itself, be affected by both the development process and the donation of aid; (3) foreign aid is good for development when governance is good, but may be bad (perhaps very bad) for development when governance is bad; and (4) corruption and poverty may co-exist as permanent, rather than just transitory, fixtures of an economy
Topic:
Corruption, Development, Foreign Aid, and Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

36. Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way? Untangling Ownership and Political Will in Post-Conflict Stability and Reconstruction Operations

Author:
Derick W. Brinkerhoff
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
How best to assist fragile and post-conflict states to improve conditions for their citizens and to establish the policies, institutions, and governance procedures that will lead to socio-economic development has constituted an enduring set of questions for international assistance agencies. These questions have taken on renewed urgency in today’s world where concerns about transnational terrorism, intrastate conflict, and state failure have led to an intersection among the policy, research, and programmatic agendas of the international development, humanitarian, security, and diplomatic communities. The World Bank’s list of fragile states grew from seventeen to twenty-six during the years 2003 to 2006, confirming that the problem of addressing the needs of low-income countries affected by poor governance, persistent poverty, and weak economic growth is becoming ever more difficult and complex.1 While definitions of fragile states vary, all concur that state fragility is directly related to capacity deficits. Fragile states have governments that are incapable of assuring basic security for their citizens, fail to provide basic services and economic opportunities, and are unable to garner sufficient legitimacy to maintain citizens’ confidence and trust. When these capacity deficits are large enough, states move toward failure, collapse, crisis, and conflict. In post-conflict countries, the recovery process—often supported by international donor assistance—involves rebuilding capacity and filling deficits, though backsliding is an ever-present risk. As Collier et al. note, countries that have experienced violent conflict face a 40 percent risk of renewed violence within five years.2
Topic:
Foreign Aid, Reconstruction, Fragile States, Political stability, and Post-Conflict
Political Geography:
Global Focus

37. To aid or not to aid: Foreign aid and producity in cross-country regressions

Author:
Pablo Selaya
Publication Date:
11-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
The paper reexamines empirically the robustness of competing theories of foreign aid e§ectiveness. By shifting the focus from the e§ects of aid on income to to e§ects of aid on productivity, it is possible to put to test 3 existing theories of foreign aid e§ectiveness. The results provide support for the hypotheses that (i) aid has a positive e§ect in fostering growth of average productivity, (ii) aid doesnít operate with diminishing returns, and (iii) the magnitude of the total e§ect depends on climate-related circumstances. The results support the policy recommendation previously made in the literature to seriously reconsider the conditionality rule for foreign aid disbursements.
Topic:
Development, Foreign Aid, Productivity, and Income
Political Geography:
Global Focus