What We’re Reading 2/23/09
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Foreign Policty—5 “Don’ts” for U.S. Development Policy
Will Inboden, a former Bush administration foreign policy advisor, writes in Foreign Policy magazine about what the Obama administration’s policies and priorities on international development should be. He suggests five “don’ts” for the new administration to bear in mind: 1. Don’t neglect incentives and governance; 2. Don’t listen only to aid debates among Western experts; 3. Don’t expect aid to produce growth; 4. Don’t forget that aid can save lives; and 5. Don’t miss this chance to fix the system.
The Guardian—Britain to demand radical reform of World Bank at G20
Britain is demanding reform of the World Bank to make the anti-poverty lender better at tackling humanitarian emergencies, The Guardian reports. U.K. development secretary Douglas Alexander wants to use the political leverage created by the credit crunch to persuade members of the G20 group of leading economies, which are meeting in London in April, to sign up to radical plans to redraw the rules of the Washington-based bank. In a speech he will deliver tomorrow, will criticize the World Bank’s record, and urge it to provide “more, faster and better funding” to help vulnerable people. “In these extraordinary times, the world’s poorest people need the bank to take extraordinary measures,” he will say.
-Steve Wilson
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February 23, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I’d like to hit on a couple of points in that first piece.
-3. Don’t expect aid to produce growth-
This much you can bank on effectively. One could rewrite that effectively as such and get a more concrete statement : “Don’t expect money to fix the issues that styme growth.” Money is actually the least of concerns. Abusive forgein “governments” are though. Fix those and then “aid” works.
-4. Don’t forget that aid can save lives-
Yes is can. Aid is invaluable. …when applied in the correct order.
-5. Don’t miss this chance to fix the system.-
Which system needs fixing? Needs clarification. Our system for “aid” does need fixing. It’s too lenient. If it’s a forgein governments system, well….yeah, that needs fixing too. Too many forgein “governments” are busy commiting genocide….probably with aid dollars. It’s never been verified to my knowledge, but that possibility exists.
Why do I see so little about getting 3rd world governments to work with their own people for prosperity vs. pumping in all the money that we can at them? I’ve tried…and not a single person that I can recall has been willing to “meet me at the table” so to speak and have an honest discussion about it. I’d be willing to leave the board if that happened.