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E-book
Author Yanguas, Pablo, author.

Title Why we lie about aid : development and the messy politics of change / Pablo Yanguas
Published London : Zed, [2018]
©2018

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 267 pages)
Contents Introduction -- One The theatrics of aid debates -- Two The banality of certainty -- Three The ugly politics of change -- Four The limits of donor influence -- Five The paradoxes of development diplomacy -- Six The struggle of thinking politically -- Seven Understanding the messy politics of change -- Conclusion
Summary Foreign aid is about charity. International development is about technical fixes. At least that is what we, as donors, are constantly told. The result is a highly dysfunctional aid system that mistakes short-term results for long-term transformation and gets attacked across the political spectrum: those on the right claiming we spend too much, those on the left that we don't spend enough. The reality, as Pablo Yanguas argues in this highly provocative book, is that aid isn't--or at least shouldn't be--about levels of spending, nor interventions shackled to vague notions of accountability, ownership, and harmonization. Instead, a different approach is possible, one that acknowledges aid as being about struggle, about taking sides, and about politics. It is an approach that has been quietly applied by innovative development practitioners around the world, providing political coverage for local reformers to open up spaces for change. Drawing on a variety of convention-defying stories from aid practitioners across the world, from Britain to the United States and Sierra Leone to Honduras, Yanguas provides an eye-opening account of what we really mean when we talk about aid. -- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed February 21, 2018)
Subject Economic assistance -- Political aspects
Food relief -- Political aspects
Politics & government.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Industries -- General.
Economic assistance -- Political aspects
Food relief -- Political aspects
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781783609352
1783609354
Other Titles Development and the messy politics of change