Overview

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.

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9780367681524

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Reviews

Praise for the first edition 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 This book is badly needed. It answers the question on everyone's mind: why has aid often failed to trigger successful development? Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore Stephen Browne takes us back to the early days of development aid, through its evolution into partnership, to the present day ... The book reads very well, is snappy and sharp, and is backed up with real life examples. Kunda Dixit, Editor-in-Chief, Nepali Times Stephen Browne takes [the aid] story, tests it against many countries and periods and discovers the wide prevalence of aid and influence ... This book deserves a wide readership among students of aid relationships and decision-makers. Just Faaland, Former Director, Christian Michelsen Institute, Norway The developing countries - particularly those in Africa - deserve a better deal, not as the passive recipients of aid, but as active participants in a fairer global economy. This book contains some important proposals on how a new deal could be struck, which is beneficial to both South and North. Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank

Author Information

Stephen Browne is co-director of the Future United Nations Development System (FUNDS) project, Senior Fellow of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, Graduate Center, City University of New York, and visiting lecturer at the University of Geneva, Geneva. He worked for the United Nations for more than 30 years, and has written a dozen books on aid, development and the United Nations, including Beyond Aid: From Patronage to Partnership (1999), Sustainable Development Goals and UN Goal-Setting (Routledge, 2017), UN Reform: 25 Years of Challenge and Change (2019), and the Routledge Handbook on the UN in Development (Routledge, 2020).

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