Abstract
Western aid-giving is couched in a progressive language of poverty reduction and human wellbeing. This chapter, however, casts critical light upon three Western aid modalities; project aid, budget support and aid ‘blending’ initiatives. It illustrates the way in which Western donor aid is often used as a subsidy for foreign corporate involvement in Africa despite dubious returns for the poorer citizenry in developing countries. For example, the chapter queries the ‘development’ auspices of private sector development (PSD) and Aid for Trade interventions carried out by the European Commission. It also challenges the role of development finance institutions (DFIs) in so-called aid blending projects, which combine public tax-payers money to DFI capital in African infrastructure projects. Donor budget support, meanwhile, is deemed a genuine obstacle to empirical sovereignty in African countries.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
ActionAid. (2004). Turning off the taps: Donor conditionality and water privatisation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. London: ActionAid.
ActionAid. (2015, May). New alliance, new risk of land grabs: Evidence from Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania. London: Action Aid.
Alvarez, R. (2010). The rise of budget support in European development co-operation: A false panacea. FRIDE Policy Brief, No. 31, January. Madrid: FRIDE.
Armon, J. (2007). Aid, Politics and Development. Development Policy Review, 25(5), 653–656.
Bayart, J. F. (2010). The state in Africa: The politics of the belly. London: Polity Press.
BBC News. (2012). James Ibori: How a thief almost became Nigeria’s president. BBC News, 28 February 2012. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17184075 Accessed 30 July 2017.
Bracking, S. (2009). Money and power: Great predators in the political economy of development. London: Pluto Press.
Brewster, H., & Njinkeu, D. (2008). Aid for trade and private sector development. In D. Njinkeu & H. Cameron (Eds.), Aid for Trade and Development (pp. 369–392). Cambridge: University Press.
Brooks, S. (2016). Inducing food insecurity: Financialisation and development in the post-2015 Era. Third World Quarterly, 37(5), 768–780.
CDC. (2015). New investment from the UK government to help boost jobs in the world’s poorest places. London: CDC.
Christian Aid. (2001). Water privatization in Ghana. London: Christian Aid.
Christian Aid. (2005). The damage done: Aid, death and dogma. London: Christian Aid.
de Renzio, P., & Hanlon, J., (2007). Contested sovereignty in Mozambique: The dilemmas of aid dependence. GEG Working Paper, 2007/25. Oxford: University College Oxford.
DFID. (2008). Private sector development strategy—Prosperity for all: Making markets work. London: DfID.
DFID. (2015). UK aid: Tackling global challenges in the national interest. London: DfID.
The Economist. (2017, February 2). Priti patel does economics: DFID tries to justify its existence. The Economist.
EIB. (2015). Annual report 2015 on EIB activity in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific, and overseas territories. Brussels: EIB.
Eurodad. (2015). A dangerous blend? The EU’s agenda to ‘Blend’ public development finance with private finance. Brussels: Eurodad.
European Commission. (1996). Green paper on the relations between the european union and the ACP countries on the Eve of the 21st Century. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2000). Partnership agreement ACP-EU signed in cotonou on 23 June 2000. Revised in luxembourg on 25 June 2005—Brussels: European Commission, 2005.
European Commission. (2003). European community co-operation with third countries: The commission’s approach to future support for the development of the business sector. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2017). Trade—Countries and regions—West Africa. Brussels: European Commission. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/regions/west-africa/index_en.htm Accessed 7 Jan 2017.
European Parliament. (2015). Study: The new alliance for food Security and nutrition in africa. Brussels: European Parliament. Available online at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2015/535010/EXPO_STU(2015)535010_EN.pdf Accessed 9 Feb 2017.
The Financial Times. (2012, April 16). CDC is linked to Ibori fraud scandal. The Financial Times.
The Financial Times. (2013). Ethiopia’s leader aims to maintain tight rein on key businesses. The Financial Times, 27 May 2013. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/c0985378-c5ef-11e2-99d1-00144feab7de Accessed 30 July 2017.
Furtado, X., & Smith, W. (2007). Ethiopia, aid and sovereignty (GEG Working Paper 2007/28).
The Guardian. (2007). Tanzania’s water scandal: The water margin. The Guardian, 16 August 2007. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/aug/16/imf.internationalaidanddevelopment Accessed 30 July 2017.
The Guardian. (2012). Why is so much UK aid money still going to companies based in Britain? The Guardian, September 21. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/datablog/2012/sep/21/why-is-uk-aid-going-to-uk-companies Accessed 9 Feb 2017.
The Guardian. (2015, July 17). CDC Criticised for Pouring Funding into Gated Communities.
Hauck, V., Hasse, O., & Koppensteiner, M. (2005). EC budget support: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down? Maastricht: ECDPM.
Hayman, R. (2011). Budget support and democracy: A twist in the conditionality tale. Third World Quarterly, 32(4), 673–688.
Hodges, T., & Tibana, R. (2004). Political economy of the budget in Mozambique. Oxford: OPM.
Irish Aid. (2008). Good governance, aid modalities and poverty reduction: Linkages to a millennium development goals and implications for Irish Aid. Dublin: Irish Aid.
ICAI. (2014). DFID’s private sector development Work. London: ICAI.
ICAI. (2015). Business in development. London: ICAI.
Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). (2010). Poverty reduction support credits: An evaluation of world bank support. Washington: IEG.
Jubilee Debt Campaign and One World Action and Platform Remember and Saro-Wiwa Tax Justice Network and The Corner House and War on Want. (2010). Memorandum to secretary of state for international development: Concerns over alleged corruption in CDC-backed companies in Nigeria. London: Jubilee Debt Campaign.
Knoll, M. (2008). Budget support: A reformed approach or old wines in new skins? Geneva: UNCTAD.
Koeberle & Malesa. (2005). World Bank Conditionality: Edited Collection 2005. Washington: World Bank.
Langan, M. (2009). ACP-EU normative concessions from Stabex to private sector development: Why the European Union’s moralised pursuit of a “Deep” trade agenda is nothing “New” in ACP-EU relations. Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 10(3), 416–444.
Langan, M. (2011a). Uganda’s flower farms and private sector development. Development and Change, 42(5), 1207–1240.
Langan, M. (2011b). Private sector development as poverty and strategic discourse: PSD in the political economy of EU-Africa trade relations. Journal of Modern African Studies, 49(1), 83–113.
Langan, M. (2012). Normative power europe and the moral economy of Africa-EU ties: A conceptual reorientation of “Normative Power”. New Political Economy, 17(3), 243–270.
Langan, M. (2014). A moral economy approach to the Africa-EU ties: The case of the european investment bank. Review of International Studies, 40(3), 465–485.
Langan, M. (2015). Budget support and Africa-European union relations: Free market reform and Neo-Colonialism? European Journal of International Relations, 21(11), pp.101–121.
Moyo, D. (2008). Dead Aid. London: Allen Lane.
Nicita, A. (2006 February). Export-led growth, pro-poor or not? Evidence from Madagascar’s textile and apparel industry (World Bank Policy Research Briefing Paper, No. 3841). Washington, DC: World Bank.
Nkrumah, K. (1965). Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (Sixth Printing—New York International Publishers, 1976).
OECD. (2007). Business for development: Fostering the private sector—A development centre perspective. Paris: OECD.
Pigeon, M. (2012). From fiasco to DAWASCO: Remunicipalising water systems in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In M. Pigeon, D. McDonald, O. Hoedeman, & S. Kishimoto (Eds.), Remunicipalisation: Putting water back into public hands. Amsterdam: Trasnational Institute.
RIAO-RDC, Africa Europe Faith & Justice Network, Entraide et fraternité, GRain sos faim, UMoYa urgewald, War on Want, & World Rainforest Movement. (2016). Land conflicts and shady finances. Kinshasa: RIADO-RDC.
Taylor, I. (2008). Sino-African relations and the problem of human rights. African Affairs, 107(426), 63–87.
TNI. (2014). Post privatisation challenges of public water in Ghana. Amsterdam: TNI.
te Velde, D. W. (2006). Aid for private sector development. In S. Page (Ed.), Trade and aid: Partners or Rivals in Development Policy? (pp. 117–140). London: Cameron may.
Udofia, O. E. (1984). Imperialism in Africa: A case of multinational companies. Journal of Black Studies, 14(3), 353–368.
USAID. (2008). Securing the future: A strategy for economic growth. Washington DC: USAID.
Walker, A. (2012, February 28). James Ibori: How a thief almost became Nigeria’s President. BBC News.
Whitfield, L., & Therkildsen, O. (2011). What drives states to support the development of productive sectors.
Woddis, J. (1967). An introduction to Neo-colonialism. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Langan, M. (2018). Neo-Colonialism and Donor Interventions: Western Aid Mechanisms. In: Neo-Colonialism and the Poverty of 'Development' in Africa. Contemporary African Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58571-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58571-0_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58570-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58571-0
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)