Foreign Aid and the Fragile Consensus on State Fragility
Forthcoming in: Journal of International Relations and Development
Available as Discussion Paper 8/2013, German Development Institute (DIE)
28 Pages Posted: 17 Oct 2009 Last revised: 26 Jul 2013
Date Written: March 4, 2013
Abstract
Most actors in the field of foreign aid agree with the call for coordinated engagement in fragile states in order to more effectively counter the consequences and origins of state failure. However, despite such demands, governments from OECD countries as well as multilateral agencies that are engaged in fragile states often continue to act in an uncoordinated manner and fail to reach higher levels of harmonisation. Why is effective coordination so hard to achieve? This article argues that three major challenges explain the persistent problems of donor harmonisation in fragile states: (1) the cognitive challenge of explaining the origins of state fragility and deducing effective instruments and interventions; (2) the political challenge of reconciling divergent political motives for engagement; as well as (3) the bureaucratic challenge related to the organisational logic of competing aid agencies.
Keywords: Fragile States, Development, Foreign Aid, Harmonization, Donor Coordination
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