Development Aid Confronts Politics: The Almost Revolution

by Thomas Carothers, Diane de Gramont

Overview

A new lens on development is changing the world of international aid. The overdue recognition that development in all sectors is an inherently political process is driving aid providers to try to learn how to think and act politically.

Major donors are pursuing explicitly political goals alongside their traditional socioeconomic aims and introducing more politically informed methods throughout their work. Yet these changes face an array of external and internal obstacles, from heightened sensitivity on the part of many aid-receiving governments about foreign political interventionism to inflexible aid delivery mechanisms and entrenched technocratic preferences within many aid organizations.

This pathbreaking book assesses the progress and pitfalls of the attempted politics revolution in development aid and charts a constructive way forward.

Contents:

Introduction

1. The New Politics Agenda

The Original Framework: 1960s-1980s

2. Apolitical Roots

Breaking the Political Taboo: 1990s-2000s

3. The Door Opens to Politics

4. Advancing Political Goals

5. Toward Politically Informed Methods

The Way Forward

6. Politically Smart Development Aid

7. The Unresolved Debate on Political Goals

8. The Integration Frontier

Conclusion

9. The Long Road to Politics

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870034022
Publisher:	Carnegie Endowment For International Peace
Publication date:	04/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction

Chapter 1 The New Politics Agenda 3

The original framework: 1960s-1980s

Chapter 2 Apolitical Roots 21

Breaking the political taboo: 1990s-2000s

Chapter 3 The Door Opens to Politics 55

Chapter 4 Advancing Political Goals 89

Chapter 5 Toward Politically Informed Methods 125

The Way Forward

Chapter 6 Politically Smart Development Aid? 157

Chapter 7 The Unresolved Debate oh Political Goals 195

Chapter 8 The Integration Frontier 225

Conclusion

Chapter 9 The Long Road to Politics 255

Notes 285

Bibliography 319

Index 335

About the Authors 347

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 349

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"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

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher