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Did Aid Promote Democracy in Africa? The Role of Technical Assistance in Africa’s Transitions

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  • Gibson, Clark C.
  • Hoffman, Barak D.
  • Jablonski, Ryan S.

Abstract

Did foreign aid impede or catalyze democratization in Africa in the 1990s? We argue that after the Cold War, donors increased their use of technical assistance in aid packages, improving their monitoring capacity and thus reducing autocrats’ ability to use aid for patronage. To remain in power, autocrats responded by conceding political rights to their opponents—from legalizing opposition parties to staging elections. We test our theory with panel data for all sub-Saharan African countries. While other factors played pivotal roles in Africa’s political liberalization, we find technical assistance helps to explain the timing and extent of Africa’s democratization.

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  • Gibson, Clark C. & Hoffman, Barak D. & Jablonski, Ryan S., 2015. "Did Aid Promote Democracy in Africa? The Role of Technical Assistance in Africa’s Transitions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 323-335.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:68:y:2015:i:c:p:323-335
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.11.009
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    Cited by:

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    2. McLean, Elena V., 2023. "Looking for advice: The politics of consulting services procurement in the World Bank," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
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    4. Tii N. Nchofoung & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou & Ofeh M. Edoh, 2022. "Gender political inclusion and democracy in Africa: some empirical evidence," Working Papers of The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA). 22/011, The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA).
    5. Margaret Ariotti & Simone Dietrich & Joseph Wright, 2022. "Foreign aid and judicial autonomy," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 691-715, October.
    6. Jones, Sam & Tarp, Finn, 2016. "Does foreign aid harm political institutions?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 266-281.
    7. Jones, Sam & Tarp, Finn, 2016. "Does foreign aid harm political institutions?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 266-281.
    8. Nadeem Abdulmalik Abdulrahman Aljonaid & Fengming Qin & Zhaoyong Zhang, 2022. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Sectoral Foreign Aid Inflows on Sectoral Growth: SUR Evidence from Selected Sub-Saharan African and MENA Countries," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-45, February.

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