The political economy of foreign aid: the ‘why’ and the ‘how’

Seminar, Bob Douglas Lecture Theatre, NCEPH (entrance via Eggleston Road). Kizzy Gandy, PhD student. The political economy of foreign aid: the ‘why’ and the ‘how’. 21 April 2009, 12.30pm – 1.30pm.

Continued crisis in Darfur alongside ICC action against Sudanese president

On March 4, 2009, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir on charges alleging genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western Darfur region, where an ethnic conflict has raged since 2003. This is the first time that the ICC has issued such a warrant for a sitting head of state. Almost immediately the Sudanese Government responded by expelling 13 international humanitarian organisations and NGOs from Sudan including Oxfam, CARE and MSF and closed down three local relief agencies.

On the 24 March Ayman Al-Zawahri, the notorious second-in-command of Al-Qaeda, entered the fray saying that this would not help to solve the problems of Darfur, and called for all Muslim countries to arm themselves against further such interventions and intrusions into their affairs on the part of foreign countries.

Commentary on Dambisa Moyo’s book ‘Dead Aid’

Dambisa Moyo’s book Dead Aid has received a lot of publicity over the last month and joins a long list of popular books attacking aid programs, and those organisations and groups that deliver it. This book is by an economist who has spent most of her working life with Goldmann Sachs the investment advisory service, and before that the World Bank. I emphasise that point as most of the commentary highlights her Zambian heritage, and it is used to give her more credibility than the many middle age white males who comment on aid to Africa – and I readily admit falling into that category. Of course there are also many black voices who comment on the aid policies to Africa but take a different line, and we can think of Nobel laureates Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, or former UN Supremo Kofi Annan, all of whom have lived and worked in Africa; or the Kenyan lawyer Binaifer Nowrojee who is a member of the Coalition for Women’s Human Rights in Conflict Situations, and writes extensively on gender and conflict in Africa contexts.

The line Ms Moyo takes is a familiar one, and that is the debt crisis in Africa is of Africa’s own doing and that ‘aid’ makes things worse. What is interesting is that the book comes out at the time the world is facing by far the worst global recession since the 1930s, and the solutions Ms Moyo is suggesting for Africa, are now generally been agreed as been part of the cause of the current crisis: that is, access to unfettered global exchange markets, and poor credit regulations – particularly in the US. One can argue that Goldman Sachs is probably more to do the problem than the solution.

That aside, this book’s rather passionate defence of the neoliberal approaches to development is rather selective in its view of aid and development. While it readily accepts the role of the re-building of Europe after the war and cites the Marshall Plan as a very positive example, Ms Moyo seems to be less supportive of the aid successes in the developing world of the last sixty years, and the role it had in many countries, some of which are in Africa. She also suggests that the Asian successes are to do with ‘free market policies’ and ‘outward orientation’. While we can agree with an outward orientation, one is hard pressed to find any Asian country, successful or otherwise, that practices free market policies. Much of the success is to do with a high level of government (and dare I say it ‘aid’) investment in strategic areas, and in planning. None of this is mentioned in Ms Moyo’s book. [...]

The role of the affected state in humanitarian action: A case study on Indonesia

Whilst covering a lot of old ground on the role of the affected state and others in humanitarian action, this report by Barnaby Willitts-King is very timely as it raises issues including of the role of local authorities, local ownership, and appropriate behaviours of international agencies, both official and NGO.

Shifts in New Zealand aid policy: a sign of things to come?

The New Zealand aid program has hit the headlines in the last week with an announcement by Foreign Minister Murray McCully of two reviews into the foreign aid program, and at the same time flagging a shift away from poverty reduction to economic development.