Foreign aid can exhibit multiple impacts on a developing country’s political economy. This project aims to better understand how aid influences the democratic process, with a specific focus on Africa. In particular, the project asks the following question: When, why, and how has foreign aid facilitated, or hindered, democratic transitions and consolidation in Africa?
In order to answer this question, this project primarily involves a comparative case study analysis conducted in eight of Africa’s multi-party democracies. Within these countries, attention is given to the 2000-2010 period and to democratic consolidation in three domains: 1) presence of genuinely competitive party systems, 2) respect for and legitimacy of political institutions, and 3) accountability to citizens. These case studies are supported by three additional studies analyzing the existing literature on aid’s impact on Africa’s democratic transitions in the 1990s, the theoretical challenges of democratic consolidation in developing countries, and whether aid’s impact on accountability varies according to a country’s existing level of democracy.
The aim of the project is to delineate for policymakers, development practitioners, and researchers which features of aid and which characteristics of recipient countries determine the magnitude and direction of aid’s effectiveness on democratic transitions and consolidation. Understanding these factors holds important implications both for development economics and for the broader good governance agenda pursued by much of the donor community.
In Mali aid has had a positive impact on some areas of democratic consolidation such as strengthening the economy and civil society, election support and conflict resolution. Three significant structural problems were not addressed properly by donors...
In Mozambique donors have shifted focus from project aid to budget support in an effort to reform the public sector and ‘justice, legality and public order’. While budget support has increased state capacity and helped Mozambique’s donor community...
Democracy assistance and donor support have been key in fostering a new type of civil society, dominated by NGOs, the legal community and churches. The bulk of donor funding to Zambia is channelled to the executive through budget support, this has...
Development aid was effective in promoting democratic transitions during the 1990s in African countries beset by economic crisis domestic discontent, and a high dependency on aid. Development aid also influenced democratic transition indirectly...
13 December 2013 Annett Victorero The effects of development aid are not straightforward, and often have unintended consequences. An inflow of money...
When, why and how has foreign aid facilitated, or hindered, democracy in recipient countries? Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, this policy brief examines the impact of foreign aid on supporting transitions from one-party to multiparty regimes...
Despite impressive economic growth rates over the last decade, foreign aid still plays a significant role in Africa's political economies.This book asks when, why, and how foreign aid has facilitated, or hindered, democratization in sub-Saharan...
Senegal's 2012 presidential and legislative elections reaffirmed the country's longstanding reputation as one of Africa's most stable democracies. The elections also represented a critical juncture for the country's party system, demonstrated by the...
In a region where democratization has led to a proliferation of opposition parties, pre-electoral coalitions represent an obvious means by which to reduce excessive party fragmentation in Africa. However, this article examines whether such coalitions...
This project is part of Governance and fragility and ReCom - research and communication on foreign aid
Theme: Past, 2010-11
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