International aid

Large scale financial aid to poor countries is a very recent phenomenon in world history, and in inter national relations. Its purposes and implications are still obscure; and policies still in flux. Although much has been written on the subject in the past decade, there has been no critical work covering such a range of problems as the present book. After a brief history of aid, and of how matters now stand, the authors discuss all the major problems connected with the giving and receiving of aid.

The motives and objectives of aid are various and often confused, and politics and economics are closely interwoven. The apparently clear aim of economic development is often lost sight of. The authors hope to contribute towards a better understanding of the problem, towards a better consensus of opinion on the purposes of aid and on suitable means of achieving them; they hope thereby to increase mutual understanding between rich and poor countries, and to improve the effectiveness of aid. Although the book is prim arily about world aid, it is written from a British standpoint and British policy is given more atten tion than the volume of U.K. aid warrants.