Development Dance

J. Swedlund Haley

Description

In a book full of directly applicable lessons for policymakers, Haley J. Swedlund explores why foreign aid is delivered in different ways at different times, and why various approaches prove to be politically unsustainable. She finds that no aid-delivery mechanism has yet resolved commitment problems in the donor-recipient relationship; bargaining compromises break down and have to be renegotiated; frustration grows; new ways of delivering aid gain traction over existing practices; and the dance resumes.Swedlund draws on hundreds of interviews with key decision makers representing both donor agencies and recipient governments, policy and archival documents in Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, and an original survey of top-level donor officials working across twenty countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This wealth of data informs Swedlund's analysis of fads and fashions in the delivery of foreign aid and the interaction between effectiveness and aid delivery. The central message of The Development Dance is that if we want to know whether an aid delivery mechanism is likely to be sustained over the long term, we need to look at whether it induces credible commitments from both donor agencies and recipient governments over the long term.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Sociology
• International relations
• Developing country
• Political economy

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501709784
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE DEVELOPMENT DANCE

THE DEVELOPMENT DANCE How Donors and Recipients Negotiate the Delivery of Foreign Aid

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

Haley J. Swedlund

ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2017 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2017 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Names: Swedlund, Haley J., author. Title: The development dance : how donors and recipients negotiate the delivery of  foreign aid / Haley J. Swedlund. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical  references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017012409 (print) | LCCN 2017013994 (ebook) |  ISBN 9781501712425 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501709784 (pdf) | ISBN  9781501712876 | ISBN 9781501712876 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN  9781501709401 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Economic assistance—Political aspects—Africa, SubSaharan. |  International agencies—Political aspects—Africa, SubSaharan. |  Nongovernmental organizations—Political aspects—Africa, SubSaharan. |  Economic development—Political aspects—Africa, SubSaharan. | Africa,  SubSaharan—Foreign economic relations. Classification: LCC HC800 (ebook) | LCC HC800 .S955 2017 (print) |  DDC 338.910967—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017012409

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Contents

List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations

1. The Development Dance 2.  It Takes Two to Tango: Aid Policy Bargaining 3.  Studying the Dance: Research Design, Methodology, and Historical Context 4.  May I Have This Dance? Donor–Government Relations in AidDependent Countries 5.  A Halfhearted Shuffle: Commitment Problems in Aid Policy Bargaining 6.  Tracking a Craze: The Rise (and Fall) of Budget Support 7.  The Future of the Development Dance and Why We Should Care

Appendixes Notes Works Cited Index

v

vii ix xi

1

18

36

59

77

97

122

133 151 163 181

Figures and Tables

Figures 2.1.  Aid policy bargaining 4.1.  It takes two to tango 5.1.  Donors struggle to provide predictable aid 6.1.  Budget support gives you more influence with the government 6.2.  Percentage of HoCs in favor of their agency providing budget support

Tables 2.1.  Preferences of donor agencies and recipient governments 3.1.  Budget support volumes as a percentage of public expenditure 3.2.  GDP at market prices (constant 2010 USD billions), 2000–2015 3.3.  GNI per capita, based on purchasing power parity (constant 2011 international dollars), 2000–2015 3.4.  Annual percent growth of GDP, 2000–2015 3.5.  Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current USD millions), 2000–2015 3.6.  Net ODA received (constant 2013 USD millions), 2000–2014 3.7.  Net ODA as a share of GNI, 2000–2014 3.8.  Net ODA received per capita (current USD), 2000–2014 4.1.  HIPC milestones and debt relief obtained 4.2.  Recipient governments are the most important stakeholder

vii

22

60

87

100

114

25

42

55

55

56

56

57

57

58

66

72

viiiFIGURES AND TABLES

5.1.  Deviations of gross ODA commitments from disbursement, averages, 1990–2005 5.2.  Predictability of aid disbursements last year A.1.  Countries included in the survey and response rates A.2.  Donor agencies represented in the survey

85

86

137

138

Acknowledgments

This book is the product of over seven years of research on donor–government relations across many different countries. I did not start out intending to write a book on bargaining between donor agencies and recipient governments. I arrived in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2009 in order to do research on the postgenocide period. I very quickly became fascinated by the dense network of policy dialogues and the amount of effort that donor and government officials put into keeping these dialogues alive. I therefore set in motion a research project designed to under stand how donors and recipients negotiate the delivery of aid in Rwanda. After completing an initial wave of research in Rwanda, I was curious if the theories I had started to develop were applicable elsewhere. With the help of a grant from the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission (CIG Project no. 322228), I embarked on a multiyear project that took me to Accra, Ghana; Kampala, Uganda; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and back to Rwanda. The project also allowed me to carry out a survey of development practitioners work ing in twenty countries across Africa. Throughout this period, the research sub ject matter has continued to captivate me. Development practitioners invest so much time in maintaining their relationships with one another, yet we know so little about how this affects the delivery of aid. Like all scholarship, this book has benefited from the assistance of many peo ple. First and foremost, I am indebted to the literally hundreds of people who shared their professional experiences in development aid, taking time out of their often very hectic and busy schedules to speak with me, to answer my survey, or to attend one of my workshops. I am also particularly grateful to those who, in addi tion to taking an hour or more out of their day to answer my questions, opened up their Rolodex so that I could also talk with their colleagues and friends. My experience talking to practitioners served as a constant reminder that the vast majority of aid workers truly want to help. They work, however, within a system that is often failing. Only by learning from the people who work within that system day in and day out will we be able to make any headway in improving it. I am also indebted to the student assistants who helped me carry out back ground research and the survey: Samuel Andreas Admasie, Rik van Hulst, Marije Oude Hengel, Elisabeth Krämer, and Maya Turolla. Each of them contributed to the success of the project by, for example, laboring to acquire names and contacts and carrying out the painstaking work of cleaning the data for analysis.

ix

xACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many scholars provided me with feedback on the project at different stages. I am first grateful to Hans Peter Schmitz, who let me explore these topics way back in 2009. On the book manuscript, I particularly appreciate the comments I received at a workshop held at Radboud University in June 2015. Two exter nal reviewers—Stephan Klingebiel and Stephen Brown—traveled all the way to Nijmegen and provided truly excellent advice and feedback at a critical moment. Comments from my colleagues at Radboud, including Romain Malejacq, Lotje de Vries, and Mathijs van Leeuwen, also helped me to shape the final book. I am also very grateful to Jan Pronk for being willing to chair the workshop. Not only did he do an excellent job of keeping us on track; his vast experience in interna tional development helped ground the book in the everyday practices of develop ment cooperation. I am very grateful to Naomi Levy and Matt Winters for their willingness to read a draft of the manuscript in its entirely. Two anonymous reviewers also provided truly excellent feedback and advice. Heather Pincock, Ryan Jablonski, Malte Lierl, Reyko Huang, Michael Tierney, and Nicolas van de Walle all gave excellent advice and comments on various parts of the manuscript. I am also appreciative of my editor at Cornell, Roger Haydon, for providing his own com ments at several points and for identifying such thoughtful external reviewers. During the final stages of writing, I benefited enormously from the opportu nity to be a visiting fellow at Yale University’s MacMillan Center. My time there allowed me to sharpen both my argumentation and my prose. During this period of revision, Seth Fischer helped bring the manuscript, in particular the first three chapters, to life. On a more personal note, I am incredibly thankful to my family. My parents have always encouraged me to pursue my dreams, allowing me from an early age to not put boundaries on ideas. They also instilled in me a strong midwestern work ethic that helped me stubbornly finish this project. I am also grateful to my paternal grandfather. I cannot remember a time when he didn’t have a pen in hand. He, more than anyone else, instilled in me the desire to write a book. Finally, I am thankful for the loving support of my husband. From the moment I called him on a choppy phone line from Kigali to share my excitement about “finding” my research topic, he has steadfastly believed in me and in this research. His support has time and time again been instrumental in my belief that I should write this book.