Publication

This paper argues that mainstream development agencies in the West have become increasingly irrelevant to the developing world and looks at how this state of affairs has come to pass. The author contends that there are two shifts that have brought this situation about: 1) Developing countries have become increasingly less reliant on official development assistance or financing, and less tolerant of donor organizations imposing the terms under which development assistance occurs; and 2) changes in the political base behind aid support in the West has led to a reduction in support for assistance focused on increasing material gains, something that does not reflect the priorities of developing countries.