Fragile Aid: Development Cooperation in Weak States and Conflict Contexts
Rachel M. Gisselquist · Patricia Justino · Andrea Vaccaro
Apr 2025 · Oxford University Press
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About this ebook
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations International development cooperation plays a key role in promoting social, economic, and political progress and wellbeing in developing countries. Yet, it has long been clear that the effectiveness of aid is most challenging in countries with weak institutions. It is estimated that by 2030 around a fifth of the world's poorest people will live in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Despite increased attention, much more needs to be done to maximize the effectiveness of aid in these highly complex situations. This book offers fresh, in-depth understandings of the effectiveness of development cooperation in fragile contexts, and where challenges regarding the effectiveness of development cooperation are most pronounced. The empirical chapters combine quantitative macro analysis of cross-country data with detailed country case studies to take stock of past research on the topic, investigate the impact of foreign aid in fragile state contexts, and explore whether and how aid delivered in accordance with the principles of effective development cooperation works in these settings. Cross-national studies provide a broader picture of the topic, while country case studies allow us to identify specific ways in which development cooperation operates. More reflective chapters discuss the feasibility of the effectiveness agenda and provide important insights on how the effectiveness principles could be improved and better put into practice. The collection offers important original contributions to a large body of policy-relevant scholarship on the aid-development nexus, as well as to rapidly evolving research and policy debates on building strong and inclusive state institutions.
About the author
Rachel M. Gisselquist is Professor in Governance and Development, and Director of the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC), University of Birmingham (UK). She is also a non-resident senior research fellow with UNU-WIDER, where she was based 201124. Previously, she was a research director at Harvard University, where she co-authored the first several editions of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, now a standard reference on governance. Her research examines issues of inequality, ethnic politics, state-building, foreign aid, governance, and democracy. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MPP from Harvard. Patricia Justino is a development economist and a leading expert on political violence and development. She is currently UNU-WIDER's Deputy Director and Professorial Fellow (on leave) at the Institute of Development Studies, UK. She has led major research programmes funded by the European Commission, the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and has advised several international organizations, including UN agencies and the World Bank. She holds a MPhil in Economics from Cambridge University and a PhD in Economics from London University. She has held visiting positions at Harvard University (200709) and the European University Institute (2017), among others. Andrea Vaccaro is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and an associate member of St Antonys College. Previously, he was a visiting researcher at UNU-WIDER and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Insubria. His research lies at the intersection of comparative politics and global development. He primarily studies the state and political regimes, their measurement, their interplay, and their relationship with human wellbeing, particularly in challenging situations like fragile contexts in the Global South and major crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. He received his PhD from the Sapienza University of Rome.
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