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Aid: the drama, the fiction, and does it work?

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  • de Haan, A.

Abstract

The international community is under increased pressure to show results from the money invested through aid agencies. While support for international development has been large, there has also been a forceful critique. This paper argues that much of the public debate tends to be counter-productive, as it takes insufficient account of the diversity of aid motives, agencies, modalities, and problems addressed. Critical to the debate on aid, in my view, is to focus on the accountability towards both the funders and recipients of aid, and the international community needs to ensure strengthened accountability -- rather than producing "results" -- enables increased space for the development of developmental social contracts.

Suggested Citation

  • de Haan, A., 2009. "Aid: the drama, the fiction, and does it work?," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18705, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    • Handle: RePEc:ems:euriss:18705
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    1. Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee & Alice H. Amsden & Robert H. Bates & Jagdish Bhagwati & Angus Deaton & Nicholas Stern, 2007. "Making Aid Work," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262026155, December.
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    5. Andrew M. Fischer, 2009. "Putting aid in its place: Insights from early structuralists on aid and balance of payments and lessons for contemporary aid debates," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(6), pages 856-867.
    6. Simon Maxwell, 2009. "Eliminating World Poverty: Building Our Common Future," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 27(6), pages 767-770, November.
    7. David Hulme & Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, 2009. "International Norm Dynamics and ‘the End of Poverty’: Understanding the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 9609, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    8. Ilyana Kuziemko & Eric Werker, 2006. "How Much Is a Seat on the Security Council Worth? Foreign Aid and Bribery at the United Nations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(5), pages 905-930, October.
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    1. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-69 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Arnab Acharya & Melisa Martínez-Álvarez, 2012. "Aid Effectiveness in the Health Sector," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-069, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Antonio Sianes & Manuel Dorado-Moreno & César Hervás-Martínez, 2014. "Rating the Rich: An Ordinal Classification to Determine Which Rich Countries are Helping Poorer Ones the Most," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 47-65, March.
    4. Acharya, Arnab & Martínez-Álvarez, Melisa, 2012. "Aid Effectiveness in the Health Sector," WIDER Working Paper Series 069, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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