Introduction: Conceptualising Ownership in Aid Relations

Abstract

The aim of this book is to bring fresh perspectives and alternative views into the current debate on aid effectiveness and aid relationships. We do so through a number of case studies of Japanese and Nordic aid to various Asian countries, focusing on aid ownership and partnership at the implementation level. The authors, comprising Nordic, Japanese and other Asian scholars, bring in perspectives from aid recipient countries and donors that have hitherto not figured prominently in this debate. A main objective is to study aid relationships as seen from the recipient side. The fact that the study is situated in Asia, where we have both rapidly developing countries in which aid plays a less central role, such as China, Vietnam, and Thailand, as well as more aid-dependent countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Mongolia, also gives a more varied picture of aid effectiveness than the dismal one often painted in studies from Africa.