Between EU actorness and aid effectiveness: The logics of EU aid to Sub-Saharan Africa
| Author | Maurizio Carbone |
| Published date | 01 September 2013 |
| Date | 01 September 2013 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0047117813497300 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Relations
27(3) 341 –355
© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/0047117813497300
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Between EU actorness and aid
effectiveness: The logics of EU
aid to Sub-Saharan Africa
Maurizio Carbone
University of Glasgow
Abstract
This article argues that, by acting autonomously and cohesively, the European Union (EU) was able
to shape the global agenda on foreign aid throughout the 2000s, particularly on the issue of donor
complementarity and division of labour. By contrast, its ability to promote aid effectiveness in
Sub-Saharan Africa was significantly constrained by national aid bureaucracies and by the complex
aid architecture. More generally, to fully understand whether or not the EU is an effective actor,
it is necessary to take into account how EU actorness contributes to the issue being discussed. At
headquarter level, the European Commission sought to enhance EU actorness, which was seen as
key to aid effectiveness. On the ground, national aid bureaucracies resisted EU actorness in the
name of aid effectiveness.
Keywords
actorness, aid architecture, aid bureaucracies, aid effectiveness, donor coordination, EU–Africa
relations, EU development policy
Introduction
Despite contributing more than half of the world’s foreign aid, until the early 2000s, the
role of the European Union (EU) in international development was of marginal signifi-
cance. One of the main reasons behind this poor record was the existence of the bilateral
policies of the Member States along the supranational programme managed by the
European Commission, which made the EU less than the sum of its constituent parts.1
This problem became more urgent when, following joint commitments made in the EU
context in March 2002 and May 2005, a number of Member States boosted their volume
Corresponding author:
Maurizio Carbone, University of Glasgow, 1218 Adam Smith Building, Glasgow, G12 8RT, UK.
Email: Maurizio.Carbone@glasgow.ac.uk
497300IRE27310.1177/0047117813497300International RelationsCarbone
2013
Article
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