Difference between revisions of "Development"
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At the UN's World Conference on Disaster Reduction the Sustainable Development Network stated that they believe that governments and international agencies must stop focussing on ways to stick plasters over gaping wounds and must commit instead to eliminating the underlying causes of vulnerability to disasters and other causes of premature deaths only through the institutions of a free society can poor people move from the vicious circle of | At the UN's World Conference on Disaster Reduction the Sustainable Development Network stated that they believe that governments and international agencies must stop focussing on ways to stick plasters over gaping wounds and must commit instead to eliminating the underlying causes of vulnerability to disasters and other causes of premature deaths only through the institutions of a free society can poor people move from the vicious circle of | ||
poverty and oppression, to a virtuous circle of empowerment and development.'<ref> UN, "[http://www.policynetwork.net/sites/default/files/sdn-disasters_jan2005.pdf UN CONF]" 17th January 2005, acessed 10 November 2010</ref> | poverty and oppression, to a virtuous circle of empowerment and development.'<ref> UN, "[http://www.policynetwork.net/sites/default/files/sdn-disasters_jan2005.pdf UN CONF]" 17th January 2005, acessed 10 November 2010</ref> | ||
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| + | Overall, Fredrik Erixon from IPN in a publication titled Aid and development: Will it work this time, has found that aid has not promoted economic growth, nor has it led to improved policies in developing countries. Rather, there is much evidence supporting the view that aid largely has backed political regimes with little interest in growth and development. They believe there is a great danger that such aid will assist mostly in the corruption of governments that are already doing much harm to their citizens, promoting bad policies and undermining democracy and the rule of law. They see that it would be much more sensible to scale back the levels of aid considerably; provide aid only to governments that are already reforming and which agree to continued reforms; and make clear that aid will be available only for a strictly limited period. | ||
| + | '<ref> IPN, "[http://www.policynetwork.net/sites/default/files/Aid_&_Development_final.pdf]", acessed 10 November 2010</ref> | ||
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==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
<references/> | <references/> | ||
Latest revision as of 12:04, 18 November 2010
Return to Globalisation:International Policy Network
IPN believe that promoting development is about more than throwing good money after bad. “In Development” (The Times, 13 January) demonstrates well that compassion towards the world’s poor cannot effectively be fulfilled through the vehicle of government-to-government foreign aid. Public opinion towards aid and development is shifting both among donors and recipients. For fifty years, proponents of ‘aid’ have argued that poor countries are poor because they lack the funds to invest in the infrastructure that would enable economic activity to take place, which in turn means that they are unable to attract investment. As a result, aid has failed to ‘fill the gap’. Instead, it has, over the past fifty years, largely been counterproductive: it has crowded out private sector investments, undermined democracy, and enabled despots to continue with oppressive policies, perpetuating poverty. '[1]
IPN found that for fifty years, proponents of ‘aid’ have argued that poor countries are poor because they lack the funds to invest in the infrastructure that would enable economic activity to take place, which in turn means that they are unable to attract investment. At the UN's World Conference on Disaster Reduction the Sustainable Development Network stated that they believe that governments and international agencies must stop focussing on ways to stick plasters over gaping wounds and must commit instead to eliminating the underlying causes of vulnerability to disasters and other causes of premature deaths only through the institutions of a free society can poor people move from the vicious circle of poverty and oppression, to a virtuous circle of empowerment and development.'[2]
Overall, Fredrik Erixon from IPN in a publication titled Aid and development: Will it work this time, has found that aid has not promoted economic growth, nor has it led to improved policies in developing countries. Rather, there is much evidence supporting the view that aid largely has backed political regimes with little interest in growth and development. They believe there is a great danger that such aid will assist mostly in the corruption of governments that are already doing much harm to their citizens, promoting bad policies and undermining democracy and the rule of law. They see that it would be much more sensible to scale back the levels of aid considerably; provide aid only to governments that are already reforming and which agree to continued reforms; and make clear that aid will be available only for a strictly limited period. '[3]
