Foreign Aid in the Age of Populism: Political Economy Analysis from Washington to Beijing (Rethinking Development)

"Across the world the Western dominated international aid system is being challenged. The rise of right-wing populism, de-globalisation, the advance of illiberal democracy and the emergence of non-Western donors onto the international stage are cutting right to the heart of the entrenched neoliberal aid paradigm. Foreign Aid in the Age of Populism explores the impact of these challenges on development aid, arguing that there is a need to bring politics back into development aid; not just the politics of economics, but power relations internally in aid organisations, in recipient nations, and between donor and recipient. In particular, the book examines how aid agencies are using Political Economy Analysis (PEA) to inform their decision making and to push aid projects through, whilst failing to engage meaningfully with wider politics. The book provides an in-depth critical analysis of the Washington Consensus model of political economy analysis, contrasting it with the emerging Beijing Consensus, and suggesting that PEA has to be recast in order to accommodate new and emerging paradigms. A range of alternative theoretical frameworks are suggested, demonstrating how PEA could be used to provide a deeper and richer understanding of development aid interventions, and their impact and effectiveness. This book is perfect for students and researchers of development, global politics and international relations, as well as also being useful for practitioners and policy makers within government, development aid organisations, and global institutions."--Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half Title 4 Series Page 5 Title Page 6 Copyright Page 7 Table of Contents 8 About the authors 9 Abbreviations 11 1. Introduction 14 Preamble 14 Political economy analysis at the crossroads of illiberalism and populism 15 The structure of the book 18 Note 20 References 20 2. Political Economy Analysis: A distorted view of reality 22 Introduction 22 Delineating Political Economy Analysis 24 Aid, economic growth and development 24 A paradigm shift 29 Applying a paradigm shift to PEA 30 From paradigm shift to international political economy: a rationale for a political economy analysis theoretical framework 33 Conclusion 37 References 38 3. Political Economy Analysis: Deficiencies and critiques 42 Introduction 42 A brief political background: foreign aid and Political Economy Analysis 43 Definitional deficiencies of PEA 44 Conceptual deficiencies of PEA 48 PEA: the critics and the proponents 50 Conclusion 54 References 56 4. Unpacking political economy analysis in a foreign aid context 59 Introduction 59 Evolution of development alongside politics 60 Evolution of politics in, or alongside, development 64 Conclusion 69 References 69 5. Populism: Challenging socio-economic orthodoxy 73 Introduction 73 Right-wing versus left-wing populism 74 Populism as a conceptual narrative 75 Constituents of populism: mercantilism and protectionism 77 Defining the demand side theories of populism 80 The rise of populism 81 Populism: the beginning of a new era 83 Populism and its impact on foreign aid 84 Populism and its impact on multilateral development banks 87 Conclusion 88 References 89 6. The challenge of illiberal democracy 91 Introduction 91 Democracy, liberalism and illiberalism 92 The failure of liberal democracy and the rise of illiberal democracy 97 Illiberal democracy and dominant development theory 98 Illiberal democracy and the Beijing Consensus 101 Illiberal democracy and foreign aid: towards a new conceptual framework 102 Impact of illiberal democracy on foreign aid 104 Conclusion 105 References 106 7. De-globalisation: Challenging the foreign aid agenda 111 Introduction 111 The locus of de-globalisation 113 From neoliberal globalisation to de-globalisation 114 A critique of neoliberal globalisation 117 The ghost of inequality 119 Globalisation and populism: two ‘unfinished’ projects 121 Trump administration as a globalisation discontent 121 A political economy analysis vantage point 123 Conclusion 124 References 125 8. The Beijing Consensus: Challenging the dominant Washington Consensus 128 Introduction 128 Positioning the Beijing Consensus: between the political and the value-laden parameters 129 The rise of the Beijing Consensus 131 Unpacking the Beijing Consensus 132 Contrasting the Washington and the Beijing Consensuses 136 Reconciling the Beijing and the Washington Consensuses 142 Beijing Consensus as developmentalism in an era of populism 143 Conclusion 145 References 146 9. The politicisation of Political Economy Analysis 150 Introduction 150 The politicisation of foreign aid 151 The political locus classicus of PEA 153 Problematising the politicisation of political economy analysis 155 Political challenges: re-politicisation of PEA 157 Power relations as the politicisation of PEA: the principal-agent theory 158 A Trumpist political politicisation of PEA 161 Conclusion 162 References 164 10. (Re)locating Political Economy Analysis: Theoretical constructs and practical undertakings 167 Introduction 167 Theoretical frameworks for Political Economy Analysis 168 Actor-oriented theoretical frameworks 169 Structuralism as a theoretical framework 174 Institutionalism 180 Conclusion 183 References 184 11. Foreign aid: Political Economy Analysis at the crossroads 188 Introduction 188 Political Economy Analysis: politics matter 190 Relocating Political Economy Analysis 192 From political theory to policy practice 193 The demise of the neoliberal political economy analysis or mainstreaming political economy analysis in a new key? 194 Conceptualising Political Economy Analysis in a ‘new key’ 195 Conclusion 197 References 199 Index 201 Across the world the Western dominated international aid system is being challenged. The rise of right-wing populism, de-globalisation, the advance of illiberal democracy and the emergence of non-Western donors onto the international stage are cutting right to the heart of the entrenched neoliberal aid paradigm. Foreign Aid in the Age of Populism explores the impact of these challenges on development aid, arguing that there is a need to bring politics back into development aid; not just the politics of economics, but power relations internally in aid organisations, in recipient nations, and between donor and recipient. In particular, the book examines how aid agencies are using Political Economy Analysis (PEA) to inform their decision making and to push aid projects through, whilst failing to engage meaningfully with wider politics. The book provides an in-depth critical analysis of the Washington Consensus model of political economy analysis, contrasting it with the emerging Beijing Consensus, and suggesting that PEA has to be recast in order to accommodate new and emerging paradigms. A range of alternative theoretical frameworks are suggested, demonstrating how PEA could be used to provide a deeper and richer understanding of development aid interventions, and their impact and effectiveness. This book is perfect for students and researchers of development, global politics and international relations, as well as also being useful for practitioners and policy makers within government, development aid organisations, and global institutions.-- Provided by publisher This book explores the impact of the rise of right-wing populism, illiberal democracy and new donors on international development aid. The book proposes new frameworks for political economy analysis for us to better understand aid interventions.