Foreign aid in Africa : an analysis of its costs and benefits

Setlaba, Mosa

Foreign aid in Africa : an analysis of its costs and benefits

Master Thesis

2011

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Political Studies

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

It is a common assumption that foreign aid has to benefit recipient countries, by, among other things, stimulating growth, reducing poverty and improving governance. While Africa has received massive inflows of aid since the 1960s, the Continent is still saddled with a number of challenges. These include, poor economic performance, growing poverty, a high level of corruption, poor governance and a general deterioration in the quality of life of its people. The contradiction between the assumption and reality has led, in recent years, to a raging debate over the effectiveness of foreign aid in mitigating Africa’s underdevelopment. This dissertation examines some of the dominant arguments in this debate, and shows that while foreign aid has been beneficial to Africa in some respects, its negative impact on the Continent’s economic growth and general development should not be discounted. For this reason, Africa should reconsider its heavy dependence on aid.

Keywords

International Relations

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Masters

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