Elliott R Morss - The Future Of Western Development Assistance

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The Future of Western Development Assistance

About the Book and Authors

Since the inception of Western development assistance, significant changes in the makeup of donors, recipients, development goals, and strategies have taken place. However, major donor institutions have not yet weighed the impact of these changes on their operations and objectives in anticipa tion of the future global environment.

Discussing trends that will profoundly affect development assistance strategy, the authors raise such questions as: Will the demand for Western technical assistance drop sharply over the next decade? Was the Latin American debt crisis precipitated by the loan practices of international commercial banks? Should aid to Africa be shifted from investment in rural desert areas to investment in urban planning and infrastructure? Also examined are such concerns as the outside management of agricultural research; the U.S. focus on purchasing political allegiance with its aid programs, thus creating dependent nations; the threat to East Asian economic growth posed by the micro-electronics revolution; and the growing conflict between western aid and trade objectives. The authors' purpose is not to provide definitive prescriptions for future development programs, but rather to focus the attention of policymakers on important, but often neglected, issues.

Elliott R. Morss is associate director of the Center for Asian Development Studies and adjunct professor of economics, Boston University. Victoria A. Morss is a consultant for a number of bilateral and multilateral donor agencies.

The Future of Western Development Assistance

Elliott R. Morss
Victoria A. Morss

First published 1986 by Westview Press, Inc.

Published 2019 by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 1986 Taylor & Francis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Morss, Elliott R.
The future of Western development assistance.
(Westview special studies in social, political, and
economic development)
Includes index.
1. Economic development. 2. Economic assistance-
Developing countries. I. Morss, Victoria A. II. Title.
III. Series.
HD75.M67 1986 338.9 8615824

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-29241-6 (hbk)

Contents

Guide

1. Table

For most of history man has attempted to explain events, attributing actions to causes, linking together patterns to form an understandable picture. Societal change has been studied from the perspective of many disciplines; progress has been measured and judged according to varied interpretations of countless traditions, prosaic facts, and even myths. Mathematical reasoning has confronted passionate humanitarian appeals. Rational views of the world verified by theories of religion, philosophy, history, politics, ethics, and science have been challenged by bitter, real social conflicts and cultural problems. Nowhere has the conflict between the desire to achieve modernity while providing for all humanitarian needs been greater than in the developing world today.

The primary aim of this book is to document some of the changes in world conditions that lead one to wonder about the appropriateness of current western development activities. From such a starting point one could go in a number of different directions. To avoid confusion we state our premises at the outset. The development process is based on predictions: if certain actions are taken in a particular environment a complex chain of events will be set in motion resulting in anticipated changes. In fact, that rarely happens. The process of change is not that scientific; it is really a subtle mixture of analysis and advocacy, fraught with uncertainty, ignorance, and risks. The chance of success is remote, requires rigorous persistence, an intense desire to accomplish something, and most importantly, a better historical understanding of global dynamics.

To raise some of the issues that are too frequently overlooked by decision makers, to ask some different questions, and redefine the nature of the development problem is our objective. We do not have simple answers, or pretend that the issues raised are immutable. But here are our assumptions about the nature of the development process:

1. The primary rationale for western development assistance is to equip developing nations with the willingness and capacity to function effectively in a world dominated by western norms, values, and processes.
2. Ultimately, nations will aspire for the freedom to chart their own future. This means efforts to purchase their political and economic allegiance will be resented and fail.
3. It is not in the interest of western nations to accede to the demands of developing nations to influence a major redistribution of global resources.
4. Economic assistance should not serve to prop up governments unable or unwilling to adopt measures that fundamentally affect their development progress.
5. Countries reach a point where their aggregate development is sufficiently advanced to warrant a cessation of foreign aid even though pockets of poverty remain.

A few of our development colleagues, busy as they are in serving the immediate needs of the development industry, have shown interest in this book. We greatly appreciate the curiosity and encouragement provided at various times by Richard Blue, Neva Goodwin, Oliver Oldman, Alexander Shakow, and Paul Streeten. We are particularly indebted to Gus Papanek, director of the Center for Asian Studies at Boston University, and to David Brown and Jane Covey of the Institute of Development Research for providing institutional settings in which this book was completed.

Elliott R. Movss
Victoria A. Movss

Notes

Some of the problems that can result when policy makers do not have a sufficient historical perspective are documented by Richard E. Neustadt and Ernest R. May, Thinking in Time (New York: The Free Press, 1986).

1
The Changing Circumstances of Developed Nations

The economic and political conditions that led the United States to initiate large-scale foreign assistance efforts following World War II no longer exist.

The United States was then in a position of complete economic dominance. Today it is hard to imagine the extent of this dominance. Until well into the 1960s, a serious debate took place among leading international economists over whether or not the U.S. would always have a surplus balance of trade that would exert a deflationary impact on the rest of the world.

Following World War II, Congress and government officials believed it was essential to create an environment in which earlier failures were not repeated. The belief was that unless the United States used its economic resources to help its allies and enemies revive their economies they would not be able to support the growth of a healthy world economy based on the principles

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