Confronts the theory of conditionality with its limitations in practice, analyses the reasons for these limitations, and suggests constructive alternatives.

Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West? - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.

The authors argue that much of foreign aid's failure is related to the institutions that structure its delivery. They explore the workings of Sida and find that Sida's institutions lead to perverse incentives and poor outcomes in the field. The authors offer concrete suggestions about how to improve aid's effectiveness.

A major restriction to Western aid efforts has been a lack of coordination. This book delves into the determinants of successful cooperation between bi- and multilateral donor agencies at the example of Western aid to Eastern Europe in the period from 1990 to 1996. In raising the assumption that networking between international organizations cannot be stimulated by appealing to norm-oriented behavior but is contingent upon the existence of common interests, the idealist view of international relations is seriously challenged. Comparing different assistance sectors - energy, telecoms, mass privatization, agriculture, statistics, central banking, environment and education - it is shown that donor coordination is a form of collective action initiated by donors in response to sectoral market failure which is perceived as significant because it threatens the non-attainment of basic goals or inflicts own projects with high costs or risks.

This Annual Review of Development Effectiveness (ARDE) builds on previous reviews, i.e., the 1998 review, released in a hostile environment of financial crisis, concluded that improvements in project performance cannot be enough, that improvements at a higher plane of program, and country performance should also be present; and, the 1999 review, inscribed within the Comprehensive Development Framework dilemmas, and challenges, identified practices for dealing with those challenges, namely to be based on country commitments to poverty reduction, and sustainable growth. The ARDE 2000 finds that progress was solid on a broad front, but that further progress is likely. Portfolio performance is likely to exceed the Strategic Compact target of seventy five percent satisfactory outcomes; and, sustainability, and institutional development ratings reflect improvements. Though progress is commendable, this review examines four tensions the Bank faces: learning to reconcile client, and corporate priorities; adapting global prescriptions to local conditions; balancing country performance and poverty incidence in allocating its resources; and, achieving efficiency/selectivity, seeking to implement a holistic vision of development. Bank strategies should acknowledge client needs, judicious adaptation to institutional, social, and political fronts should be pursued, and, an approach to poor-performing countries should be addressed.

This book considers the many facets of the privatization process in advanced industrialised countries, along with the marketization of Eastern Europe, and the pressures on developing countries to adopt privatization as the route to growth.