Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics [Paperback]

Carol Lancaster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0226470458 | ISBN-13: 978-0226470450

A twentieth-century innovation, foreign aid has become a familiar and even expected element in international relations. But scholars and government officials continue to debate why countries provide it: some claim that it is primarily a tool of diplomacy, some argue that it is largely intended to support development in poor countries, and still others point out its myriad newer uses. Carol Lancaster effectively puts this dispute to rest here by providing the most comprehensive answer yet to the question of why governments give foreign aid. She argues that because of domestic politics in aid-giving countries, it has always been—and will continue to be—used to achieve a mixture of different goals. 

Drawing on her expertise in both comparative politics and international relations and on her experience as a former public official, Lancaster provides five in-depth case studies—the United States, Japan, France, Germany, and Denmark—that demonstrate how domestic politics and international pressures combine to shape how and why donor governments give aid. In doing so, she explores the impact on foreign aid of political institutions, interest groups, and the ways governments organize their giving. Her findings provide essential insight for scholars of international relations and comparative politics, as well as anyone involved with foreign aid or foreign policy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Offers a dispassionate and thorough examination of a government activity of continuing and even growing importance."

(Foreign Affairs )

“This is a unique and excellent work, a story told from the inside and the outside, a book on an important subject for the new millennium. Lancaster lays out the main themes behind aid programs and also offers a better framework for understanding policy and relations among nations.”—William Zartman, Johns Hopkins University

(William Zartman, Johns Hopkins University )

“The grand themes Lancaster introduces and develops will become classic statements about foreign aid. And the assembly of country details relevant to aid—coalition politics in Germany, bureaucratic business traditions in Japan, national self image in France and Denmark—adds considerably to the literature in comparative politics. I can imagine scholars in international politics using this book as a definitive source upon which to construct other arguments and stories about international affairs in the contemporary era.”—Raymond F. Hopkins, Swarthmore College

(Raymond F. Hopkins, Swarthmore College )

"Lancaster offers a helpful and thoughtful retrospective account of sixty years of aid practices and a useful study on the question of how we got to the norms, bureaucracies, politics, and institutions that govern foreign aid today. For academics and practitioners alike, Lancaster''s study offers a compelling narrative for understanding why governments give aid, how it is done, and what it is expected to accomplish."

(Daniel M. Rothschild Michigan Journal of Public Affairs )

"Because Lancaster has the dual vantage point of having been a government official and a professor, the analysis rings true and eschews simplistic motivations and conclusions."

(Phyllis R. Pomerantz Political Science Quarterly )

"Foreign Aid succeeds in reminding the reader that development assistance programs were born to further the diplomatic and security interests of the governments that created thme."

(Leonardo Martinez-Diaz World Economics )

"This is a comprehensive assessment of why aid is given, rich in historical and institutional detail, and meticulous in its coverage of the economic and political factions which affect aid programmes."

(Mark Arvin Development Policy Review )

"This is an important contribution to the literature on comparative foreign policy making."

(Choice )

"[The] study provides a useful insight for postgraduates and academics of international relations and comparative politics, as well as practitioners involved in the field of aid giving and foreign policy. It also provides an accessible introduction for newcomers to the topic."

(Khalid Salem Almezaini Political Studies Review )

"Lancaster affords a significant contribution to the current scholarly work on foreign assistance, as she elucidates the aid problematic and its complexity with a refreshing and suitable set of case studies. She writes for an educated, well-read audience, yet reaches beyond specialists in her field, and offers an intelligible, eloquent comparative analysis on an intriguing issue that will remain on the political agenda of governments in the twenty-first century."

(Arnaud Kurze Development and Change ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Carol Lancaster is associate professor in the Edmund A. Waslh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and director of the Mortara Center for International Studies. She is the author of Aid to Africa, also published by the University of Chicago Press, a coauthor of Organizing U.S. Foreign Aid: Confronting the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century, and a former deputy administrator of USAID.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (December 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226470458
• ISBN-13: 978-0226470450
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #336,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Triumph, December 10, 2006

By 

Eric Wind (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics (Paperback)

"Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics" by Carol Lancaster is a monumental work. I expect, for good reason, that this book will be required reading for many college courses around the world as well as appear on the shelves of many government officials. I give this book my highest praise.

Lancaster's career has bridged the divide between study and practice. She is an associate professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University and is an accomplished academic that is beloved by her students. Lancaster has proven to be an excellent Director of the School of Foreign Service's Mortara Center for International Studies. In terms of practice, Lancaster has held positions within various parts of the U.S. government, including the Office of Management and Budget, two congressional staffs (a Senator and a Representative), the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she was the deputy administrator during part of the Clinton presidency. She built on her extensive experience to craft this work.

As Carol Lancaster states in the preface, "the practitioner side of my brain usually rejects the scholarly side as being so conceptual as to be detached from reality; the scholarly side of my brain assails the practitioner side for being too mired in details to understand what has really happened. Comments on various pieces of this book from practitioners and scholars have followed much the same pattern. I can only hope that what follows has struck the right balance between practice and theory and that it will help advance our understanding of the important part of our lives--indeed the lives of much of the world's population--that is foreign aid."

In my opinion, Lancaster has struck that perfect balance. She incorporated many disciplines in the social sciences. "Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics" seems to be the perfect size for its scope. Chapters 3-7 were in many ways the most interesting for me, although the entire book is engaging and enthralling. Lancaster provides case studies of the United States, Japan, France, and Germany, which are the four countries that are traditionally the largest bilateral aid-givers. The fifth case study is Denmark, a country that for many years has found itself near or at the top of the list for countries giving the most aid as a percentage of gross national income (measured by Net Official Development Assistance as a percentage of GNI).

For the case of the United States, Lancaster shows how foreign aid has changed from the time of the Cold War to modernity. The U.S. originally used foreign aid almost strictly to keep countries away from communism, but now a large portion of foreign aid is dedicated to bettering the human condition in impoverished countries, a concept that was almost unheard of a few decades ago. She notes that the form of United States government, with political autonomy between the president and members of Congress, makes it unique among the largest aid-giving countries. Another distinctive feature of U.S. politics is that there are only two major political parties. Despite these exceptional features great reforms have been made to create and empower USAID, which is the principal U.S. organization for giving non-military aid to foreign countries.

One important caveat is that the book focuses on bilateral aid and avoids delving into multilateral aid. However, there are plenty of scholarly sources that focus on the myriad of multilateral aid organizations, which include the European Union, the United Nations Development Program, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. Ultimately Lancaster chose to focus on the motivations and purposes behind foreign aid. According to Lancaster, Post-World War II aid has been mainly used for diplomatic, developmental, humanitarian relief, and commercial purposes. A certain amount of aid has been given for cultural purposes, but to a much lesser extent than the four main purposes. Lancaster explains that four additional purposes of aid gained prominence in the 1990s: to promote economic and social transitions (in former socialist countries), to promote democracy, to address global issues, and to mitigate conflicts and manage postconflict transitions.

The nature of the debate surrounding foreign aid has changed. The idea of using governmental money to better the human condition was almost unheard of fifty years ago, but now it is expected that rich governments should help poor governments through direct investment and debt relief. Lancaster proves that aid is not purely a tool of diplomacy or a means to support developing countries, but it is really used for a sundry of reasons. This monumental work provides an important analysis of the modern transformation of foreign aid.

"Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics" deserves serious consideration by academics and practitioners. Academics in a multiplicity of disciplines could harvest many important ideas and explanations from this work. As an example, Andrew Natsios, the former administrator of USAID and current Special Envoy to Sudan focusing on the issues relating to Darfur, plans to incorporate this book into his Georgetown University international affairs class "Contemporary Issues in International Development." Practitioners would also do well to read this book. It provides information as to the importance of domestic norms in framing and shaping the debate surrounding foreign aid. As seen in the case of Denmark, the framing of aid within domestic norms can have broad effects as to the nominal value, the direction, and even the overall purpose of foreign aid.

Lancaster has crafted another truly triumphant book. I fully expect this work to be considered for many prestigious prizes and awards. It deserves acclaim and fanfare. I heartily recommend Carol Lancaster's "Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much detail and acronyms!, February 26, 2010

By 

Jennifer Ferguson (West Warwick, RI United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics (Paperback)

I liked this book because of its comparative nature. I enjoyed readin and comparing foreign aid systems between France, the US, Germany, and Denmark. I found it hard to get through the book at times due to the plethora of detail but the last part of each chapter was able to sum up the material well and provide a sort of framework (listing ideas, organization, interests, etc) in order to get a handle on all the information. There are a lot of books on this topic out there and this one is right in the middle of the stack of all of them in my opnion.