Why We Lie about Aid: Development and the Messy Politics of Change Contributor(s): Yanguas, Pablo (Author) |
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ISBN: 1783609338 ISBN-13: 9781783609338 Publisher: Zed Books OUR PRICE: $25.60 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2018 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Political Science | International Relations - General - Business & Economics | Development - Economic Development - Social Science | Developing & Emerging Countries |
Dewey: 338.91 |
Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.3" W x 8.4" (0.65 lbs) 275 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Foreign aid is about charity. International development is about technical fixes. At least that is what we, as donor publics, are constantly told. The result is a highly dysfunctional aid system which mistakes short-term results for long-term transformation and gets attacked across the political spectrum, with the right claiming we spend too much, and the left that we don't spend enough. The reality, as Yanguas argues in this highly provocative book, is that aid isn't - or at least shouldn't be - about levels of spending, nor interventions shackled to vague notions of 'accountability' and 'ownership'. Instead, a different approach is possible, one that acknowledges aid as being about struggle, about taking sides, about politics. It is an approach that has been quietly applied by innovative development practitioners around the world, providing political coverage for local reformers to open up spaces for change. Drawing on a variety of convention-defying stories from a variety of countries - from Britain to the US, Sierra Leone to Honduras - Yanguas provides an eye-opening account of what we really mean when we talk about aid. |