The politics of foreign aid

Abstract

The dominant argument in the discourse on foreign aid in Africa is characterized by disapproving voices regarding aid flows into the continent. The history of aid in Africa informs us that aid is a locomotive of empowering donor economies, which benefit more from aid than the recipients. The chapter offers a critical discussion of Chinese aid through an analysis of empirical data generated by Austin Strange, Bradley Park, Michael Tierney, Andreas Fuchs, Axel Dreher and Vijaya Ramachandran who used a media-based methodology of Chinese aid in Africa to assess the form of aid offered to selected African countries, focusing on the three poorest economies in Africa and including the political dynamics between China and recipient countries. The chapter critically discusses the idea of Chinese non-interference, and it is argued that although Chinese aid has largely been deemed to be without policy prescriptions, it rides on the wave of the Washington Consensus.