Foreign Aid Business

Offering an analysis of aid and development finance, this work examines the key issues and new trends in aid as well as proposing a series of improvements. Distinguishing clearly between "aid" and "help" in development finance, the authors discuss aid in the context of other North-South flows, such as trade or debt service, and describe its role and evolution during the Cold War. It addresses issues such as food aid, the European Union's Lome co-operation, Japan's emergence as the largest donor and its specific aid philosophy, the question of South-South aid, and the role of non-governmental organizations. The trends analyzed in the book include political conditionality, the UNDP's proposal to reorient aid towards human development and the question of aid diversion to the former communist countries. It concludes by proposing a series of reforms for development aid and finance. The authors advocate major improvements which include combining emergency and development aid, the financial accountability of donors, international insolvency to stop aid bailing-out creditors, and the emulation of the Marshall plan's self-monitoring by recipients.