This is the ninth in a series of posts discussing themes from The Trouble With Aid by Jonathan Glennie. In chapter 5 the author explains how the aid system has created a sense of powerlessness in governments, civil service, parliaments and civil society in most African countries, leading to a psychological malaise of aid dependence. Governments have become answerable to aid donors, and not to their own citizens.
The symptoms of aid dependence include lack of initiative in developing strategies, and a reactive rather than proactive form of government. Perhaps the most serious outcome of aid dependency is that it undermines the institutions which are essential for development. These institutions include courts, judges, the civil service, central banks and public authorities. When donors make the policies and bypass a country’s official institutions, those institutions miss out on acquiring the expertise to formulate policies and perform their functions in a satisfactory manner.
Thus there is a vicious circle. Aid donors are dissatisfied with the weak policies and poor management of official institutions in recipient countries, so they decide to set their own policies and bypass the institutions. Such capacity as the institutions originally had diminishes as a result of them no longer being required to perform their intended functions. The country’s institutions end up being run by poorly educated, inexperienced and incompetent people.