The idea of international development aid lies at the heart of a tremendously successful PR campaign. The narrative we have been sold claims that aid has been effective at reducing global poverty. Here I will argue that there are three problems with this narrative. First, poverty is not disappearing, despite what we have been told to believe. Second, aid disbursements from rich countries to poor countries are dwarfed by wealth flows that run in the other direction, to the point where poor countries are effectively developing rich countries. Third, and perhaps most critically, aid is not actually designed to reduce poverty, but operates as a tool that the elites of rich countries leverage to extract wealth, resources, and political compliance. By eliding these problems, the aid paradigm prevents development practitioners – and the public – from understanding the real causes of poverty, and therefore precludes meaningful solutions. therulesblog.org/aid-in-reverse-how-poor-countries-develop-rich-countries/
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 09:57:10 +0000
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