Overview

After decades of denial, the development community now acknowledges that effective assistance requires grappling with the domestic politics of recipient countries. Development agencies are openly promoting political goals alongside traditional socioeconomic ones and trying to apply politically smart methods. Yet considerable controversy and confusion accompany this potential revolution in development aid.

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9780870034015

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A hugely insightful book on how the international development community has failed to take politics into account in its efforts to help poor countries, with sometimes disastrous results. Carothers and de Gramont incisively chronicle the evolution of thinking on this critical topic and set out a practical agenda for how aid practitioners can do better. --Francis Fukuyama, author, The Origins of Political Order The assertion that development aid is, or should be, political, sparks widely diverging reactions, from outrage at crude Western interference to recognition that aid must understand domestic politics. The authors have done us all a service by rigorously dissecting the different meanings of politics in aid and providing a clear understanding of what smarter aid practice requires. --Mark Malloch-Brown, former minister of state, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office The story of how aid agencies have finally accepted that 'politics matter' in shaping development outcomes and what it means in practice is brilliantly told in this penetrating book. The sweep of the authors' research and the power of their insights will stir scholars and practitioners alike. --Adrian Leftwich, research director, Developmental Leadership Program The authors bring a great amount of experience, common sense, and clarity to explain what 'taking politics into account' means in foreign aid, encompassing goals such as democracy promotion as well as addressing the political economy of economic reform. --Dani Rodrik, professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

A hugely insightful book on how the international development community has failed to take politics into account in its efforts to help poor countries, with sometimes disastrous results. Carothers and de Gramont incisively chronicle the evolution of thinking on this critical topic and set out a practical agenda for how aid practitioners can do better. Francis Fukuyama, author, The Origins of Political Order | The assertion that development aid is, or should be, political, sparks widely diverging reactions, from outrage at crude Western interference to recognition that aid must understand domestic politics. The authors have done us all a service by rigorously dissecting the different meanings of politics in aid and providing a clear understanding of what smarter aid practice requires. Mark Malloch-Brown, former minister of state, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office | The story of how aid agencies have finally accepted that 'politics matter' in shaping development outcomes and what it means in practice is brilliantly told in this penetrating book. The sweep of the authors' research and the power of their insights will stir scholars and practitioners alike. Adrian Leftwich, research director, Developmental Leadership Program | The authors bring a great amount of experience, common sense, and clarity to explain what 'taking politics into account' means in foreign aid, encompassing goals such as democracy promotion as well as addressing the political economy of economic reform. Dani Rodrik, professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Author Information

Thomas Carothers is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and director of Carnegie's Democracy and Rule of Law Program. A leading authority on international support for democracy and governance, he is the author of numerous critically acclaimed books and articles on the topic. Diane de Gramont, a Clarendon Scholar at Oxford University, was previously a researcher in the Democracy and Rule of Law Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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