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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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5 THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM AIDthe same scale, INGOs are also raising and spending much more thanever before.Politically, the rise of new donors enhances the bargaining powerof poor countries and thus their ability <strong>to</strong> avoid damaging conditions.At the same time it undercuts the often overstated clout of donors <strong>to</strong>pressure for human rights and governance reforms. In addition, aswill be explored below, it vastly complicates the picture regarding aidaccountability.TABLE 5.2: THREE GRAND NARRATIVES ON AID:SACHS, EASTERLY, AND COLLIER COMPAREDThe aid optimist:Jeffrey Sachs(The End of <strong>Poverty</strong>)Core argument: diagnosisAn aid optimist: extremepoverty can be eradicatedwithin a generation.<strong>Poverty</strong> trap: povertyitself leads <strong>to</strong> underinvestmentin basicservices, which depletespoor people’s capital s<strong>to</strong>ckand leads <strong>to</strong> deeperpoverty.Hostile geography:remote, landlocked, ormountainous countriesface huge additionalobstacles.The aid pessimist:William Easterly(White Man’s Burden)An aid pessimist: aid hasfailed because it isplanned from the <strong>to</strong>pdown, without accountabilitystructures andwithout feedback fromthe people served. Itcreates perverse incentives(e.g. promotionbased on how muchmoney you manage <strong>to</strong>disburse) that have little<strong>to</strong> do with developmen<strong>to</strong>r poverty reduction.In contrast with <strong>to</strong>p-down‘Planners’, bot<strong>to</strong>m-up‘Searchers’ find out whatlocal people want, andsupply it using marketmechanisms. Searchersnimbly adapt <strong>to</strong> localconditions, and keep thecus<strong>to</strong>mer satisfied. Theyunderstand incentivesand accountability.Paul Collier(The Bot<strong>to</strong>m Billion)Four ‘traps’ keep a billionpeople excluded fromglobal prosperity:The Conflict Trap;The Natural ResourcesTrap (<strong>to</strong>o much ratherthan <strong>to</strong>o little);Being Landlocked withBad Neighbours;Bad Governance.Collier analyses fourinstruments <strong>to</strong> dealwith these:AidSecurity (i.e. militaryintervention)International laws andchartersTrade policy.359

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