Private Development Aid In Europe

The authors present an overview of private development aid in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the EU as a whole. They illustrate how private aid organisations receive support as well as the relations they have with their respective governments.

Events of the past twenty years, including the Cold War and the War on Terror, have meant that the environments of international development co-operation have changed extensively, with dramatic consequences for development policies and North-South relations in general. Perspectives on European Development Cooperation takes stock of such changes, describing and analyzing the new European development agenda, including the role of the European Union. Essays by prominent authorities in the field examine the development policies of individual donor countries and focus on the principles and objectives governing aid strategies and the performances of these policies. This book will be of interest to students of development studies and those involved in determining development policy.

The states from Central and Eastern Europe that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 provide a fascinating series of case studies for scholars interested in politics, IR and development studies. The interest comes from the fact that never before had so many recipients of EU aid joined the Union and taken on the commitment to become aid donors. The journey from recipients of aid to aid donors is interesting because, not only does it tell us about development policy in CEE states, this policy area gives us an insight into governmental structures in CEE states, foreign policy priorities, public opinion, the role of NGOs/civil society and how well CEE states have taken on board the EU acquis (the EU’s rule book). The book also explores whether the development cooperation programmes of the majority of CEESs reflect the so-called "transition experience" of moving from authoritarianism and socialism to democracy and modern liberalism. It also explores the extent to which these donors are aligned with the approaches of the DAC donors. Finally, by extending the scrutiny to the bottom-up development activities of non-state actors and public opinion, the book will analyse the dynamics of the solidarity of the former ‘East’ with the global ‘South’. This book was published as a special issue of Perspectives on European Politics and Society

Although much has been written about development assistance to the Third World, nearly all the attention has focused on U.S. programs and policy. The important and growing commitment of European countries--which now collectively account for over half of all development assistance provided by the industrialized nations--has been virtually ignored. European nations, like the u.s., support in principle a “basic needs†focus in their assistance programs, but the strategies they employ reveal a variety of styles and technical approaches, many of which could be useful in improving U.S. aid programs. This study describes and analyzes the development assistance programs of the five major European donors: France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. Drawing on primary sources and interviews with representatives of the various assistance agencies and with outside experts, Dr. Arnold describes each country’s program in terms of three general areas: the evolution of its philosophy and overall policy goals, the organizational structure of the government institutions concerned with development assistance (including the relationship of these institutions to legislative and other policymaking bodies), and the content and procedures of the assistance programs.

This book is based on the proceedings of a major conference on France, Europe and development aid, from the Treaties of Rome to the present day, organised by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Institute of Public Management and Economic Development (IGPDE). It presents, in the form of a dialogue between academics and major players in this field (Philippe de Fontaine Vive, Dieter Frisch, Omar Kabbaj, Bernard Petit, Dov Zerah and Tertius Zongo), an overview of development cooperation from the point of view of three key players: the AFD together with the French government, the European Commission and the recipient countries. France’s aid has, since 1945, clearly been driven by humanitarian, moral and political considerations as well as by the defence of French economic interests. It is one of the instruments of French influence in international relations. What is the role of French development assistance now that a “new” player, the European Commission, has been involved in this field since 1958? What sort of development policy do the Member States of the European Union and the Commission envisage? What role is there for France in the European dimension of assistance? Is there still room for official assistance within a liberalised economic area, in which private enterprise is paramount? The answers provided to these questions show that European societies do not view international relations simply in terms of economic confrontation or cold indifference. The conference on 8 December 2011 celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), successor to the Caisse centrale de la France libre, which was created by General de Gaulle in London on 2 December 1941.

This collection of studies of public attitudes to development co-operation in OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Member countries demonstrates that the concept of "aid fatigue" is misplaced. A serious lack of adequate knowledge about ...

Study with particular reference to Dutch economic assistance to India.

The authors present an overview of private development aid in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the EU as a whole. They illustrate how private aid organisations receive support as well as the relations they have with their respective governments.