Enlightened Aid

McVety, Amanda Kay

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199796915.001.0001

Cited by 24 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In sub-Saharan Africa, the equating of aid with democratic reforms not only has a longstanding precedent 1 but has since the 1990s received heightened attention in the wake of calls for democratic reforms. 2 Not much is known, however, about the seemingly unpalatable hypothesis that foreign aid entrenches autocratic rule in "donor darling" African countries receiving substantial aid volumes-Angola, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Uganda, and even Cameroon-with their questionable democratic credentials and eroding respect for human rights and political freedoms. The puzzle as eloquently framed by Tobias Hagmann and Filip Reyntjens in their edited volume Aid and Authoritanism in Africa: Development without Democracy is "Why do donors not support, but also align their policy agendas with authoritarian rulers who reject the very liberal democratic values that Western donors endorse?"…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Evaluation of European Union Development Aid to the Democratization Project in Cameroon

Pemunta

2018

Democracy and Security

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As a way of deepening democracy, the European Union (EU) has dedicated substantial financial and technical assistance to Cameroon's civil society and election process. More than two decades after the adoption of multipartism, there is, however, the lack of a credible institutional framework for democratization in the country. This analysis of mainly primary sources draws on donor-recipient relations theory to provide a critical assessment of the EU's aid to the democratization process in Cameroon. The article argues that the overemphasis on elections as a catalyst for orchestrating broader changes has instead given the Yaounde regime room to maneuver by failing to genuinely embrace democratization. Besides the worrying lack of institutional reforms, weaknesses embedded in the EU's aid architecture and its member state's self-interests have significantly compromised the effectiveness of its development assistance program in Cameroon and most of the Third World. The study suggests that the EU should recognize elections as a multifaceted process involving a complex cycle of myriad events and legal, technical, and organizational processes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%