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Book Reviews
Players and Issues in
International Aid
by Paula Hoy
The American at the median believes that 15
percent of federal spending is for international affairs. Our median citizen believes
five percent would be a better number. The actual amount spent is one percent.
Spending on non-military foreign aid is even less. Non-military foreign aid
equals about 0.08 percent of GDP. Paula Hoy takes a look at assistance successes and
assistance disasters. She argues that assistance rarely reaches the poorest of the poor.
Aid tends to be spent on famine relief
and major projects more than on preventative measures. Hoy explores some of the
newer and better strategies for development. She counts schools, clinics,
monitored elections and the elimination of smallpox among the aid success
stories. She suggests that institutional developments fostering self-reliance are
among the most successful but least well funded.
Loans, however, contribute to horrible spirals
of debt and are among the worst. Hoy excoriates the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund for creating corruption, crushing debts, and other harms affecting
the poorest of the poor. In 32 countries debt is at least 80 percent of GNP,
many of them with three-figure per capita incomes. Many citizens in these nations are saddled with debts they had no role in creating. Dead or exiled dictators created the
debts before the citizens were even born.
The U.N. receives gentler treatment
from the author. She claims that many of its problems stem from the policies of
member nations. She fails to note that the U.N. is often a democracy of dictators.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
such as Oxfam, she writes, are best at local efforts and at reaching the super
poor. They suffer from many of the flaws of government organizations,
especially an ignorance of long-term consequences. Many NGOs are shifting
toward an emphasis on training, reciprocation, and self-reliance. Some, such as
the Grameen Bank, have been successful.
NGOs based in less developed nations
show the most promise. These NGOs are better able to get directly
affected individuals more involved. These NGOs perform better because their survival is at stake.
The problem of men abandoning families
is far worse in developing countries. Men seek sexual prowess and personal
status while women are left with most of the work. Ten million children
allegedly die each year partly from comparatively easy to prevent problems.
About 150,000 deaths are directly due to starvation: Nutrient depleting
illnesses--diarrhea, measles, malaria--are direct causes of five million
deaths. Forty percent of the world has iron deficiencies, though in some places
diseases are so common that it is better to have an iron deficiency because
higher levels of iron helps microbes multiply in the body. Over 25 percent of the world's
children under five are undernourished. Serious poverty reduces mean life
expectancy about 30 years. About 1.2 billion people live in serious poverty,
two-thirds of whom are always malnourished.
Players is full of introductory
information rather than detailed arguments. Many of the book's claims are dubious such
as Robert McNamara's claim that aid is the best way to avoid war.
Hoy offers a splendid appendix
that lists various assistance organizations, their addresses, phone numbers,
and short summaries of what they do. It is a good starting point for finding
further info. One way to research a group is to go to google.com and type the
name in parenthesis. One new organization that was not listed and has gained my
attention is Educate Girls Globally: Telephone (415)561-2260, on the web at http://216.55.31.44/
The book ends with two weak arguments
against AID offered by ultra-conservative Jesse Helms and ultra-liberal David
C. Korten. Both arguments seem to be offered as straw persons.
Kortens argument includes the tired
claim that "oil spills and terrorist bombings both generate new economic activity
and therefore add to GNP." They do not. They transfer wealth. Money spent
cleaning up oil spills would be spent elsewhere, creating growth elsewhere. Economists
refer to claims like Korten's as the broken windows fallacy. In addition, terrorist bombings cause panic, capital flight, and other harms that reduce GNP. Highly recommended
as a general overview.
181p (H) 1998
Book review by J.T. Fournier.