Dambisa Moyo's "Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa " is controversial book that attempts to answer the question: Is foreign aid good or bad? Moyo’s Dead Aid is not the first critique of aid as a development tool. Peter Bauer, the Hungarian–born London School of Economics economists, was among the first write against development aid. Hubbard and Duggan in, “The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty” (2009) is also critical of foreign aid with different qualifications and emphases on other type of aid in terms of development. Dead Aid begins with a foreword written by Neil Ferguson writing. “It has long seemed to me problematic, and even a little embarrassing, that so much of the public …show more content…
Moyo argues the failure of African countries in terms of sustainable long-run growth be a confluence of some factors: “ geographical, historical cultural, tribal and institutional … while each of these factors may be part of the barriers in different degrees, in different countries, for the most part African countries have one thing in common- they all depend on …show more content…
In other countries such as Singapore, Mauritius and Costa Rica “where there is positive environment, FDI will flow and contribute to sustainable development” (p.113). But investment in aid-ridden African countries is discouraged by having bad reputations which suggest that “it is easy for others to take property away, either at gunpoint or through corruption” (p.113). She adds that, in order to prepare the situation for encouraging investment and assisting aid to work, African countries need democratic rule, in “democratic environment can jump-start economic growth” (p.40).
African countries would be able to approach double-digit economic growth without aid. The key is neoliberalist support for investment friendly infrastructure, job creation and the strengthening private sector. Moyo suggests a series of aid-free keys in terms of finance development in African countries:
Reconsideration of international bond market and, support for supplementary Chinese investment for pushing free trade
The impact of the Structural Adjustment Programs imposed by International Financial Intuitions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on the developing countries of Africa has led to the destruction of Africa’s social sectors and has handicapped Africa in its fight with poverty, the AIDS pandemic, and keeping children in school.
What would you say if I asked you to tell me what you think is causing the death of so many people in the horn of Africa? AIDS? Starvation? War? Would it surprise you if I told you that it all boils down to the women of Africa? Kofi Annan attempts to do just this in his essay “In Africa, Aids Has a Woman's Face.” Annan uses his work to tell us that women make up the “economic foundation of rural Africa” and the greatest way for Africa to thrive is through the women of Africa's freedom, power, and knowledge.
Every year, more and more money is donated to Africa to promote democracy in order to get rid of the powerful coups in many countries through out the continent. While the coups are declining and democratic governments are being established, the economic growth and development of Africa is not anywhere it should be considering the abundant natural resources and coastline that the continent possesses. Even though countries, like the United States of America, donate millions of dollars they are a large reason why Africa is underdeveloped economically. The Trans-Atlantic Slave trade is the most devastating event in the history of the world. Nearly 14,000,000 men, women, and children were displaced, sold into slavery, and killed by the trade routes.(
Priscilla. “The World Economy and Africa.” JSpivey – Home – Wikispaces. 2010. 29 January 2010. .
The United States is one of the leading suppliers of Foreign Aid in the world, and even though the US gives billions, European countries give aid money to the same countries, this causes many areas of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia to be almost fully dependent on foreign aid. This means that without aid from other countries, they would not be able to support themselves at all. Foreign aid is meant to help countries that are struggling with civil unrest, disease, or natural disasters, it is not meant to help keep the country out of debt, but that is where more and more of the US and The EU’s foreign aid budget is going. The question is, does all this money actually go where it is intended? It should be going towards the government and to help the people, but in many cases, the countries government does not have the resources to properly track the flow of money. The countries in most cases have poor infrastructure and corrupt or oppressive leaders, not always at a national level, but in the towns and cities. So this means there is almost no way to oversee the flow of foreign aid through the country, all we can see is that their situations aren't getting any better and the countries are still impoverished. If this is the case, where are the millions of dollars going? Countries like Afghanistan and Iraq receive the most money from American foreign aid and European aid, yet they are still under oppressive governmental rule and there is still an extreme difference between the rich and poor. Garrett Harding’s theory of “Lifeboat Ethics” exemplifies how not giving aid to others will allow the strongest of society to thrive, while teaching the impoverished to help themselves. He believes that giving aid to poor countries will only make ...
It is thought-provoking, in the sense that Africa’s need for foreign created a race to the bottom, much like what Pietra Rivoli described in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. Due to some African states’ reliance on foreign aid in order to mine and profit on their resources, they allow business standards to be lowered and for Chinese firms to tip the contracts moresoever in the favor of Chinese firms. This lowers the potential earnings of African states by lowering royalty rates, for example. Additionally, Burgis’ research was thorough and transparent. When he did not receive a response or if his questions were dodged, he made it obvious to the readers. Sure, some could view this book as too anecdotal to be used as a credible source of Africa’s situation. However, this is due to the nature of the system Burgis is writing about; after all, they are shadow states for a reason. Some readers will be saddened by this text, others angry, most curious to learn more, but above all, everyone will be intellectually stimulated and
Sachs, J. D. (2010/2011). Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated? Annual Editions: Social Problems 10/11 , pp. 71-75.
African governments have given in to the whim’s of international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in social and health policies, and with this, has come a shift away from former emphasis on social justice and equitable market efficiency to public health services for all now being perceived as a major threat ...
Poverty has conquered nations around the world, striking the populations down through disease and starvation. Small children with sunken eyes are displayed on national television to remind those sitting in warm, luxiourious houses that living conditions are less than tolerable around the world. Though it is easy to empathize for the poor, it is sometimes harder to reach into our pocketbooks and support them. No one desires people to suffer, but do wealthy nations have a moral obligation to aid poor nations who are unable to help themselves? Garrett Hardin in, "Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping The Poor," uses a lifeboat analogy to expose the global negative consequences that could accompany the support of poor nations. Hardin stresses problems including population increase and environmental overuse as downfalls that are necessary to consider for the survival of wealthy nations. In contrast, Peter Singer's piece, "Rich and Poor," remarks on the large differences between living conditions of those in absolute poverty with the wealthy, concluding that the rich nations possess a moral obligation to the poor that surpasses the risks involved. Theodore Sumberg's book, "Foreign Aid As Moral Obligation," documents religious and political views that encourage foreign aid. Kevin M. Morrison and David Weiner, a research analyst and senior fellow respectively at the Overseas Development Council, note the positive impact of foreign aid to America, a wealthy nation. Following the examination of these texts, it seems that not only do we have a moral obligation to the poor, but aiding poor nations is in the best interest of wealthy nations.
Dr. Noah Zerbe is a professor and chair of the department of politics at Humboldt State University in California and someone who has spent time in both South Africa and Zimbabwe. Dr. Zerbe goes in depth into the factors that surrounded the 2002 famine in Africa, where 14 million Africans were on the brink of starvation. The Malawi president, just a season before the famine, sold off all of Mal...
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, was one of the most controversial books in the world at the time of its release. The book seeks to argue that European exploitation and involvement in Africa throughout history. This is the cause of current African underdevelopment, and the true path to the development is for Africa to completely sever her ties with the international capitalist economy. Rodney describes his goal in writing the book in the preface: “this book derives from a concern with the contemporary African situation. It delves into the past only because otherwise it would be impossible to understand how the present came into being and what the trends are for the near future” (vii). Rodney writes from a distinctly Marxist perspective by arguing that the inequalities inherent in European capitalism and required exploitation of certain countries in order to sustain capitalism.
Africans should not blame Mr. Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Britain, The World Bank, George W. Bush, the president of the United States of America, any western developed country or the United Nations for attempting to redress through the Commission for Africa report, and decades of imbalances and injustices visited on Africans by both African rulers and their western collaborators. It is this callous and wicked conspiracy that has brought the beautiful and virgin continent on her knees, largely impoverishing its people and turned them into beggars, crying babies and laughing stocks of the global community.
There is no doubt that European colonialism has left a grave impact on Africa. Many of Africa’s current and recent issues can trace their roots back to the poor decisions made during the European colonial era. Some good has resulted however, like modern medicine, education, and infrastructure. Africa’s history and culture have also been transformed. It will take many years for the scars left by colonization to fade, but some things may never truly disappear. The fate of the continent may be unclear, but its past provides us with information on why the present is the way it is.
The gap between developed and underdeveloped is evident in today’s world. In naïve effort to bridge this gap a host of aid projects and development schemes are plotted onto less developed countries. But what is development really? James Ferguson attempts to explore this concept in his book “The Anti-Politics Machine: ‘Development’, Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho”. The book is an extension of Ferguson’s PhD dissertation and was published in 1990 by Cambridge University Press. The book is interesting in that it seeks to give the reader a critical understanding and insight of the actual processes that take place when development projects are implemented. Using the small African country of Lesotho as his setting, Ferguson’s book is centre around the Thaba-Tseka Development Project. This book is likely interest a variety of audience, namely anthropologists, sociologists, economists, development practitioners or any lay person interested in the field of development.
... I think this project has affected me in a way that I will remember for the rest of my life. Works Cited American Poverty and Welfare Reform. 2002. The 'Secondary' of the Women's Policy Research - Research. http://www.oycf.org/Perspectives/12_063001/American_poverty_reform.htm>.