Other Books Received
| Published date | 01 July 1967 |
| Date | 01 July 1967 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1967.tb00303.x |
Other Books Received
Effective
Aid,
Overseas Development Institute; pp. 131; 155.
a.D.1.
have
performed
avaluable service in
publishing
this account
of
the
1966
Conference at
Ditchley
Park
at which
high-powered
participants from four
donor
countries
(U.K.,
U.S.A.,
Germany
and
France) discussed questions of practical
aid policy.
From
America it was emphasised
that
'aid's
"influence
potential"
was
much
more
important
than
its resource
contribution';
recent
aid to developing
countries
represented
some 20
per
cent. of total
investment;
clearly of
greater
im-
portance
in accelerating
growth
was
the
remaining 80
per
cent. locally
invested;
how
far
should
donors
exercise influence on
the
policies involved?
To
the
maximum
possible, otherwise
notwithstanding
failures, no
great
success would be achieved,
was
the
American
view also followed by
France;
donors
cannot
be
sure
that
they
are right, newly
independent
countries are sensitive towards interference,
they
should
provide
the
initiative, we
should
exert influence with care
and
restraint,
was
the
Anglo-German
view.
It is to be
hoped
that
this
pamphlet
will receive
the
wide readership it merits.
British
Development
Policies, 1669, Overseas Development Institute;
pp. 85; 85. 6d.
This
a.D.1.
survey is full of useful information
and,
despite
the
theme,
the
text is
lively.
Attention
is
drawn
to
the
public indebtedness of developing countries
which
reached
some
£rr,800m.
by 1964 with a
recurrent
and
rising service charge of over
£1,ooom.
If
payments
due
are
honoured
many
countries wiII suffer aset-back to
their
develop-
ment
prospects;
if
they
are dishonoured not a few wiII suffer a
further
set-back to
frail
credit-standing;
the
third
course is
postponement
or rescheduling
of
debts;
'effective action on
the
debt
problem
requires international co-operation'. Britain's
long-term
interest-free loans are cited as steps in the
right
direction for dealing
with
the
burden
of
debt
servicing.
a.D.1.
will not expect
the
British
Government
to give
any
blanket approval to
the
33 conclusions
and
recommendations which include an appeal for
more
aid;
the
increase
urged
is £
loom
p.a. as
much
as possible to be channelled
through
I.D.A.;
'one
per
cent.
and
all
that'
should be reviewed with
the
objective of
stimulating
a
greater
than
minimum-set
performance.
an
the
more
practical side
H.M.G.
is
urged
to
freeze
the
subsidized beet acreage
(and
thereby
aid
the
Caribbean),
to
assume
the
full cost of paying
the
pensions of former colonial civil servants (now
met
indirectly
in a
number
of cases) and to
introduce
a two year period of service for
young
volunteers
going overseas.
Aid
Management
Overseas,
by
Tom
Soper, Overseas Development
Institute, 1967; pp.
31;
55.
The
closest possible relationship -informal contacts, exchange of ideas
and
ex-
perience, between
donor
representatives themselves
and
especially
between
these
representatives
and
the
people of
and
in an aid-receiving
country,
are essential
if
aid is to be
co-ordinated
and
made
effective. Visiting missions can and do
contribute
usefully
but
they
are no
adequate
replacement for
permanent
representatives on
the
spot.
This
is
the
theme
of
Dr.
Soper's
new
and
stimulating
pamphlet
in
which
he
calls for greater
importance
to be attached to the posting of personnel, suitably
aid-
orientated,
to Embassies
and
High
Commissions. He cites
the
success of
the
Middle
East
Development
Division (of
the
Ministry
of Overseas
Development)
in Beirut,
emphasises
the
continuity
maintained
there
and
recommends
that
asimilar divisional
system
be applied to
more
regions, reckoning
that
the
cost would be
amply
repaid
by
the
more
effective
management
of aid.
Race
Relations
in
the
British
Commonwealth
and
the
United
Nations,
by
Lord
CARRADO:-.i.
Cambridge University Press, 1967;
pp.
25;
55.
This
slender volume contains
Lord
Carradon's
1966
Smuts
Memorial
Lecture
in
214
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