Directing Multilateral Aid from the Outside: Donors Caught in a Quicksand Trap
| Author | Kristian Kreiner |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085238405000203 |
| Published date | 01 June 1984 |
| Date | 01 June 1984 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Directing
Multilateral
Aid
from
the
Outside:
Donors
Caught
in
a
Quicksand
Trap
(*)
CDU:
341.232
by
Kristian
KREINER,
Technical
University
of
Denmark
1.
INTRODUCTION
Denmark
has
recently
concluded
a
major
review
of
its
development
aid
policy.
Among
other
things
it
was
decided
that
DANIDA
(t)
should
monitor
the
performance
of
interna-
tional
aid-agencies
more
closely.
This
decision
makes
a
topical
issue
of the
relations
which
exist
between
a
national
agency,
e.g.
DANIDA,
and
an
international
organization,
e.g.
UNDP
(2),
in
the
field
of
multilateral
assistance
to
developing
countries.
Building
on
a
model
of
aid-giving
in
general
(chapter
2)
this
paper
develops
a
model
of
multilateral
aid-giving
(chapter
3),
in
which
UNDP
is
specifically
portrayed
in
its &dquo;
inter-
mediary &dquo;
role.
In
chapter
4
we
add
nuances
to
this
model
by
analyzing
a
current
situation
which
has
put
the
relation
between
DANIDA
and
UNDP
to
test.
We
conclude
by
arguing
that
the
relation
between
a
national
agency
(like
DANIDA)
and
an
international
organiza-
tion
(like
UNDP)
cannot
be
understood
solely
in
terms
of
the
formal &dquo; contents &dquo;
of
their
interaction.
While
DANIDA
and
UNDP
in-
teract
in
connection
with
aid-giving,
their
spe-
cific
relations
are
shaped
by
considerations
quite
foreign
to
aid-giving.
2.
THE
AID-GIVING
MODEL
The
basic
transaction
with
which
this
paper
deals
is
one
of
aid-giving.
In
aid-giving,
at
least
two
participants
(organizations)
are
in-
volved,
i.e.,
the
DONOR
and
the
RECIPIENT.
In
our
case,
the
donor
is
DANIDA
and
the
recipient
is
a
developing
country.
On
behalf
of
the
Danish
government,
DANIDA
provides
financial
resources
(in
terms
of
grants
and/or
loans)
to
the
developing
country
for
specific
uses.
Pressman
(3)
has
formulated
a
model
which
will
enable
us
to
analyze
the
aid-giving
process.
What
follows
is
an
account
of
that
model.
The
aid-giving
situation
is
character-
ized
in
the
following
way.
First
of
all,
and
counter
to
what
one
might
expect,
the
relation
between
the
donor
and
the
recipient
is
one
of
mutual
dependence.
We
will
return
to
this
point
later.
Suffice
it
to
say
here
that
donors
depend
on
the
recipient
to
accept
a
certain
number
of
development
projects,
i.e.,
to
consume
a
certain
amount
of
the
aid
budget.
Any
under-spending
has
se-
rious
repercussions
on
the
donor
organization,
as
illustrated
by
the
heavy
criticism
of
DA-
NIDA
following
a
rather
insignificant
surplus
on
the
1982
aid-budget.
Secondly,
the
aid-
giving
situation
is
characterized
by
large
gaps
between
donor
and
recipient.
Decisions
rele-
vant
to
the
aid-giving
process
may
often
be
made
in
relative
ignorance
of the
intentions
and
interests
of the
other
party.
Therefore
uncertainty
prevails.
Thirdly, &dquo; ...
donor
and
recipient
do
not
meet
each
other
as
two
mono-
lithic
forces
... &dquo;
(Pressman,
1975:107).
Not
only
is
the
number
of
donors
and
recipients
large
but
also
each
donor and
recipient
con-
sists
of
numerous
groups
and
units
who
exer-
cise
their
own
&dquo;
rights &dquo;
in
the
aid-giving
pro-
cess.
Institutional
fragmentation
and
admin-
istrative
complexity
result.
These
basic
cha-
racteristics
of
the
aid-giving
situation
shape
the
organizational
objectives
that
the
parti-
cipants
seek
to
fulfil
in
their
interaction.
Pressman
identifies
the
following
objectives.
(*)
The
paper
has
been
prepared,
under
Subject
III,
Aspects
of
International
Administration,
for
pre-
sentation
at
XIXth
International
Congress
of
Ad-
ministrative
Sciences,
West-Berlin,
19-23
September
1983.
(1)
DANIDA,
the
Danish
International
Develop-
ment
Agency,
is
an
agency
under
the
Ministry
of
Foreign
Affairs.
(2)
United
Nations
Development
Programme.
When
our
argument
rests
on
specific
data
UNDP
will
serve
as
our
example.
UNDP
is
a-typical
in
the
sense
that
it
is
generally
regarded
as
"the
developing
countries’
own
organization".
Consequently,
in
the
details
we
cannot
claim
that
our
analysis
applies
to
international
organizations
in
general.
(3)
Jeffrey
L.
Pressman,
Federal
Programs
and
City
Politics.
The
Dynamics
of
the
Aid
Process
in
Ockland.
University
of
California
Press,
1975.
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