Garry D. Brewer

Conclusion: Linkages and Challenges

We have seen that some aspects of the evolution of development thinking and practice have been quite positive. First, the development agenda has been greatly expanded, bringing development efforts more broadly in line with the full pursuit of human dignity by going beyond economic growth to include equitable distribution, responsive governance, environmental protection, gender equality, and minimization of violence. Second, the expertise in the field of development has deepened and broadened. Development economics, development administration, human ecology, institutional analysis, gender studies, anthropology, and a host of other fields have been deployed to address development challenges. A host of institutions has accumulated and organized vast amounts of information, leading to broader and more nuanced understanding of the dynamics and challenges of development. Third, with experience has come greater pragmatism; in many circles the extreme ideological positions have given way to asking what works in particular contexts. And, as the monitoring of the MDGs has indicated, significant progress has been made in reducing poverty, illiteracy, discrimination against women, and some diseases in many countries, though these problems remain severe in numerous nations as well.

Economic Policy and Program Practice

We have seen that economic policy doctrines often do not correspond with the latest theories of development economics. Yet, to an even greater extent, economic policy practice has departed from theories and doctrines. Examining how and why these departures have occurred will build our understanding of the challenges that policymakers continue to face. We shall see that the decision-aiding methods derived from economic theory do not provide the guidance required to select optimal economic policies, programs, or projects. We shall also see the faltering progress of the major policy reform designed to further both equity and efficiency. These include liberalizing the economy to reduce rent-seeking, reforming or privatizing state-owned enterprises, enhancing tax collection, creating propoor social safety nets, extending social services, stimulating propoor regional development without provoking violence, managing natural resources soundly, redressing the bias against agriculture, developing sound physical infrastructure, and decentralizing economic decision making. While poverty alleviation has made progress in most developing countries, the full potential to redress poverty has been hampered by the failure to translate these propoor doctrines into practice. Finally, the inability to specify technically which sectors to promote for greatest societal gain leaves the field open to organized interest groups, often at the expense of the most vulnerable families.

Evolution of Foreign Assistance Theories and Doctrines

This chapter traces out how foreign assistance has been conceived and rethought throughout the post-WWII period. Whether in the hands of the US government, the Soviet Union, Western European nations, the East Asian Tigers, or international organizations, foreign assistance has served—but also disserved—both donors and recipients.

International Development in the American Grain: From Point Four to the Present

This chapter recounts the changing institutional and political context of US foreign assistance. This evolution is unique, not only in its dominance over the past 70 years but also in its major role in the global development assistance effort. The search for a stable US foreign assistance institutional structure has largely been accomplished, but the broader institutional arrangements have placed development assistance into a chronically precarious position. We must also acknowledge that even with a stable organizational structure, no matter what the organizational chart looks like, the funding for USAID and smaller assistance agencies is far too small to make major inroads in economic assistance. In FY 2014, total US foreign assistance was roughly

Evolution of Governance and Development Administration Theory

34 billion, of which

Evolution of Governance and Development Administration Practice

8.5 billion was for international security assistance and

Evolving Roles of the Military in Developing Countries

3 billion for multilateral institutions. USAID’s economic assistance was only

Evolving Roles of NGOs in Developing Countries

19.3 billion, as other US government agencies absorbed

Evolution of Economic Development Theories and Doctrines since World War II

1.3 billion of the rest of the foreign assistance budget (US Department of State 2014, 62). The FY 2015 request is to cut the USAID foreign assistance budget to less than

The Evolution of Development Thinking

18 billion. To put this into perspective, the newest US aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, cost