The Politics and Economics of Britain's Foreign Aid

The Politics and Economics of Britain's Foreign Aid PDF Author: Tim Lankester
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136271228
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Pergau dam in Malaysia was the most controversial project in the history of British aid. Because of its high cost, it was a poor candidate for aid funding. It was provided in part to honour a highly irregular promise of civil aid in connection with a major arms deal. After two parliamentary inquiries and intense media coverage, in a landmark judgement the aid for Pergau was declared unlawful. Tim Lankester offers a detailed case study of this major aid project and of government decision-making in Britain and Malaysia. Exposing the roles played by key politicians and other stakeholders on both sides, he analyses the background to the aid/arms linkage, and the reasons why the British and Malaysian governments were so committed to the project, before exploring the response of Britain’s Parliament, and its media and NGOs, and the resultant legal case. The main causes of the Pergau debacle are carefully drawn out, from conflicting policy agendas within the British government to the power of the business lobby and the inability of Parliament to provide any serious challenge. Finally, Lankester asks whether, given what was known at the time and what we know now, he and his colleagues in Britain’s aid ministry were correct in their objections to the project. Pergau is still talked about as a prime example of how not to do aid. Tim Lankester, a key figure in the affair, is perfectly placed to provide the definitive account. At a time when aid budgets are under particular scrutiny, it provides a cautionary tale.

The Politics and Economics of Britain's Foreign Aid

The Politics and Economics of Britain's Foreign Aid PDF Author: Tim Lankester
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136271228
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Pergau dam in Malaysia was the most controversial project in the history of British aid. Because of its high cost, it was a poor candidate for aid funding. It was provided in part to honour a highly irregular promise of civil aid in connection with a major arms deal. After two parliamentary inquiries and intense media coverage, in a landmark judgement the aid for Pergau was declared unlawful. Tim Lankester offers a detailed case study of this major aid project and of government decision-making in Britain and Malaysia. Exposing the roles played by key politicians and other stakeholders on both sides, he analyses the background to the aid/arms linkage, and the reasons why the British and Malaysian governments were so committed to the project, before exploring the response of Britain’s Parliament, and its media and NGOs, and the resultant legal case. The main causes of the Pergau debacle are carefully drawn out, from conflicting policy agendas within the British government to the power of the business lobby and the inability of Parliament to provide any serious challenge. Finally, Lankester asks whether, given what was known at the time and what we know now, he and his colleagues in Britain’s aid ministry were correct in their objections to the project. Pergau is still talked about as a prime example of how not to do aid. Tim Lankester, a key figure in the affair, is perfectly placed to provide the definitive account. At a time when aid budgets are under particular scrutiny, it provides a cautionary tale.

Diary of a Disaster

Diary of a Disaster PDF Author: Robin Higham
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813150507
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Get Book Here

Book Description
On October 28, 1940, the Italian army under Benito Mussolini invaded Greece. The British had insisted on guaranteeing Greek and Turkish neutrality, despite the fact that Greece was never more than a limited campaign in an unlimited war as far as they were concerned. The British, however, were never quite sure that Greece was not their last foothold in Europe, and they harbored dreams of holding on to this last bastion of civilization and of protecting it with a diplomatic and military alliance—a Balkan bloc. These dreams bore little relation to military and economic realities, and so the stage was set for tragedy. In Diary of a Disaster, Robin Higham details the unfolding events from the invasion, though the Italian defeat and the subsequent German invasion, until the British evacuation at the end of April 1941. The Greek army, while tough, was small and based largely upon reserves. They were also largely equipped with obsolete French, Polish, and Czech arms for which there was now no other source than captured Italian materiel. Transportation was also lacking as Greece lacked all-weather roads over much of the country, had no all-weather airport, and only one rail line connecting Athens with Salonika and Florina in the north. Added to the woes of the Greek military, the British commander-in-chief for the Middle East, Sir Archibald Wavell, faced huge logistical challenges as well. Based in Cairo, he was responsible for a huge theatre of operation, from hostile Vichy French forces in Syria to the Boers in South Africa nearly six thousand miles away. His air force was comprised of only a handful of modern aircraft with biplanes and outdated, early monoplanes making up the bulk of his force. Radar was also unavailable to him. His navy was woefully short on destroyers and often incommunicado while at sea. While Wavell had roughly 500,000 men under his command, he was severely limited in how he could use them. The South Africans could only be deployed in East Africa and the Austrians and New Zealanders could not be employed without the consent of their home governments. In short, Churchill had instructed Wavell to offer support that he did not really have and could not afford to give to the Greeks. Higham walks readers through these events as they unfold like a modern Greek tragedy. Using the format of a diary, he recounts day-by-day the British efforts though the failure of Operation Lustre, which no one outside of London thought had any chance of stemming the Nazi tide in Greece.

Britain's Overseas Aid Since 1979

Britain's Overseas Aid Since 1979 PDF Author: Anuradha Bose
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719031953
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
Margaret Thatcher's government pledged in 1980 to give greater weight to political, industrial, and commercial considerations in aid allocation. The contributors to this volume, who include economists, political scientists, and practitioners working in the aid field, examine how this policy change came to be made, and what it has meant for the country's aid program and for Britain's relationship with the developing world. Distributed by St. Martin's. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Aid to Africa

Aid to Africa PDF Author: I. M. D. Little
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 1483158438
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 89

Get Book Here

Book Description
Aid to Africa is concerned with aid to Africa south of the Sahara, excluding the Republic of South Africa, an area containing 188 million persons, only about 13 per cent of the inhabitants of all underdeveloped areas. Particular attention is given to British aid policy, and hence with the fifteen UK and ex-UK territories, which receive almost all British aid to Africa south of the Sahara. They also account for half of the world total of UK aid. The first three chapters deal with certain problems of African economies which need to be appreciated as a background to aid policy. These include population growth and the problem of absorptive capacity. The next four chapters focus on aid and aid policy, covering the use of aid and its supervision, donors' policies, UK aid policy, and technical assistance. The final chapter draws some conclusions. Among these is that the emphasis of aid to Africa needs to shift to agriculture and rural development. Partly for this reason, the UK should enter more closely into the design of projects and the operation of programs.

Aid to Armenia

Aid to Armenia PDF Author: Joanne Laycock
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526142228
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 348

Get Book Here

Book Description
Interventions on behalf of Armenia and Armenians have come to be identified by scholars and practitioners alike as defining moments in the history of humanitarianism. This volume reassesses these claims, critically examining a range of interventions by governments, international and diasporic organizations, and individuals that aimed to ‘save Armenians’. Drawing on perspectives from a range of disciplines, the chapters trace the evolution of these interventions from the late-nineteenth to the present day, paying particular attention to the aftermaths of the genocide and the upheavals of the post-Soviet period. Geographically, the contributions connect diverse spaces and places – the Caucasus, Russia, the Middle East, Europe, North America, South America, and Australia – revealing shifting transnational networks of aid and intervention. These chapters are followed by reflections from leading scholars in the fields of refugee history and Armenian history, Peter Gatrell and Ronald Grigor Suny. Aid to Armenia not only offers an innovative exploration into the history of Armenia and Armenians and the history of humanitarianism, but it provides a platform for practitioners to think critically about contemporary humanitarian questions facing Armenia, the South Caucasus region and the wider Armenian diaspora.

The Politics and Economics of Britain's Foreign Aid

The Politics and Economics of Britain's Foreign Aid PDF Author: Tim Lankester
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136271236
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Pergau dam in Malaysia was the most controversial project in the history of British aid. Because of its high cost, it was a poor candidate for aid funding. It was provided in part to honour a highly irregular promise of civil aid in connection with a major arms deal. After two parliamentary inquiries and intense media coverage, in a landmark judgement the aid for Pergau was declared unlawful. Tim Lankester offers a detailed case study of this major aid project and of government decision-making in Britain and Malaysia. Exposing the roles played by key politicians and other stakeholders on both sides, he analyses the background to the aid/arms linkage, and the reasons why the British and Malaysian governments were so committed to the project, before exploring the response of Britain’s Parliament, and its media and NGOs, and the resultant legal case. The main causes of the Pergau debacle are carefully drawn out, from conflicting policy agendas within the British government to the power of the business lobby and the inability of Parliament to provide any serious challenge. Finally, Lankester asks whether, given what was known at the time and what we know now, he and his colleagues in Britain’s aid ministry were correct in their objections to the project. Pergau is still talked about as a prime example of how not to do aid. Tim Lankester, a key figure in the affair, is perfectly placed to provide the definitive account. At a time when aid budgets are under particular scrutiny, it provides a cautionary tale.

Aid and Dependence

Aid and Dependence PDF Author: Kathryn Morton
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136889574
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 163

Get Book Here

Book Description
First published in 1975, in conjunction with the Overseas Development Institute, this study examines the case for and against aid for developing nations, taking the specific example of British aid to Malawi’s economic development since independence in 1964. Kathryn Morton suggests that without Britain’s aid, Malawi’s capacity to develop would have been severely undermined and that aid has not generally inhibited Malawi’s efforts to help itself. The rapid growth of both agricultural and industrial output alongside foreign exchange earnings and avoidance of large-scale urban unemployment and balance of payment problems do not bear out the critics' gloomy predictions. This book does much to counter the critics’ case against aid and raises a number of vital questions in determining the future shape of aid policies for both Britain and other developed countries.

British Record

British Record PDF Author: British Information Services
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description


UK Aid Policy and Practice 1974-90

UK Aid Policy and Practice 1974-90 PDF Author: Christopher C. Erswell
Publisher: Universal-Publishers
ISBN: 158112127X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 429

Get Book Here

Book Description
This thesis provides a detailed analysis of UK Aid policy over the period 1974-90. Its focus is primarily upon the extent to which official aid was concerned with poverty alleviation. This theme permitted a comparison to be made between the records of the Labour administration of 1974-79 and the Conservative administration of 1979-90. A quantitative comparison is made of the two aid programmes. The philosophical, moral and ideological aspects of the British aid programme are explored. Two themes in particular are studied in depth: aid and gender and aid and the environment.

Aid to Africa: a Policy Outline for the 1970's

Aid to Africa: a Policy Outline for the 1970's PDF Author: Paul Streeten
Publisher: Ardent Media
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Get Book Here

Book Description
Study of the role of developed countries in providing development aid to Africa and of aid programmes and policy to meet requirements in the period from 1970 to 1980. Assesses the volume and quality of recent external economic aid and technical cooperation to Africa, outlines special needs in the area of aid and international cooperation and discusses terms of aid.