helen milner « GDNet Blog

The emerging landscape of aid

January 15, 2011 by areyes85 1 Comment

Helen Milner

Helen Milner, Director of the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School addressed foreign development aid from a geopolitical perspective in the fifth plenary of GDN’s 12^th Annual Conference. In contrast to the previous high-profiled participants who were economists, she comes from the Political Science world. Her presentation argued how aid is an integral part of countries’ foreign policy, and how changes in the international system are transforming aid.

Professor Milner started by sketching the history of aid and locating its origins in the Marshall Plan. She highlighted how an ‘international aid regime’ has been created by the ‘traditional donors’ (USA, Japan, Western Europe) during the last 20 years through agreements, such as: DAC principles, Paris Declaration, Monterrey Consensus, Millennium Development Goals and the Accra Agenda, among others. However, new donors such as China, Brazil and India do not seem to be following these guidelines.

The Future of Aid

December 15, 2010 by bettyallen Leave a comment

As 2010 comes to an end, the effectiveness of the fundamental mechanisms of the current foreign aid system has become a much discussed and ever more pertinent issue. Robert Riddle in his 2007 book Does Aid Really Work? highlights the traditional principle that underpins all foreign aid as:

Those who can should help those who are in extreme need…What could be simpler?

However, as Riddle elaborates, the realities of foreign aid are far from simple. Indeed, the current global financial crises, climate change challenges, natural disasters and political volatility are all contributing factors in an increasingly complex international concern.

These issues have resulted in an extensive diversity in both the attitude and approach to aid. Some, such as William Easterly and Dambisa Moyo, argue that foreign aid has stunted the growth of countries in Africa and instead created a circle of aid dependency, corruption and further poverty.

Other aid practitioners believe that aid can be successful, but only if delivered correctly.

GDN 12th Annual Conference Plenary Speaker: Professor Helen Milner

December 14, 2010 by bettyallen 1 Comment

Plenty of leading scholars will address the key issues relating to this year’s conference theme, Financing Development in a Post-Crisis World. Five plenaries top and tail each of the three day’s proceedings, with one of the most exciting taking a particularly topical theme of Development Aid: The Emerging New Landscape.

The international context of foreign aid has changed profoundly in the last few years due to multiple, interrelated global crises and challenges. Food insecurity, volatile energy and commodity prices, climate change, and above all, the global financial crisis, have recently left many fragile countries struggling to cope. This session asks the demanding question of what the next decade might hold for aid effectiveness; explores how ‘aid’ is defined; and promises to look at the macroeconomic impact of aid and the recent emergence of new donors from the South.