Official development assistance in fragile states

• Published in: Crime, law, and social change Vol. 58; no. 5; pp. 495 - 507
• Main Author: Cartier-Bresson, Jean
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.12.2012; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Academic staff; Accountability; Aid coordination; Allocation; Antipoverty Programs; Breach of contract; Corruption; Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Developing countries; Development aid; Development Policy; Development programs; Development Strategies; Economic analysis; Economists; Financial Support; Governance; Government aid; Government and politics; Humanities and Social Sciences; Interaction; Law and Criminology; Loans; Low income; Money; Political Economy; Political Science; Politics; Poverty relief; Professionals; Risk; Social Sciences; Supervision; Taxation; Public Good; Civil Society; Good Governance; Corrective Justice; Fragile State
• ISSN: 0925-4994; 1573-0751
• DOI: 10.1007/s10611-011-9358-6

Finding solutions to the misuse of official development assistance (ODA) is essential. Donor countries are likely to decide not to intervene in fragile states in order to not waste taxpayers money. The interaction between academics and aid agency professionals on the subject of ODA has brought about the development of new policies with the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 20001 and new approaches to their external financing through loans that use optimal allocation and selective redistributive processes. The selective allocation of aid entails the obvious risk of excluding the very states that need the aid most. This article aims to clarify these debates by providing aid professionals with a view of the governance and political economy implications of the new approaches to ODA. Adapted from the source document.