The delusion of knowledge transfer : the impact of foreign aid experts on policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania | Kementerian Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah

Search by :

ALL Author Subject ISBN/ISSN Advanced Search

Last search:

Image of The delusion of knowledge transfer : the impact of foreign aid experts on policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania

Text

The delusion of knowledge transfer : the impact of foreign aid experts on policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania

Koch, Susanne - Personal Name; Weingart, Peter - Personal Name;

With the rise of the ‘knowledge for development’ paradigm, expert advice has become a prime instrument of foreign aid. At the same time, it has been object of repeated criticism: the chronic failure of ‘technical assistance’ – a notion under which advice is commonly subsumed – has been documented in a host of studies. Nonetheless, international organisations continue to send advisors, promising to increase the ‘effectiveness’ of expert support if their technocratic recommendations are taken up. This book reveals fundamental problems of expert advice in the context of aid that concern issues of power and legitimacy rather than merely flaws of implementation. Based on empirical evidence from South Africa and Tanzania, the authors show that aid-related advisory processes are inevitably obstructed by colliding interests, political pressures and hierarchical relations that impede knowledge transfer and mutual learning. As a result, recipient governments find themselves caught in a perpetual cycle of dependency, continuously advised by experts who convey the shifting paradigms and agendas of their respective donor governments. For young democracies, the persistent presence of external actors is hazardous: ultimately, it poses a threat to the legitimacy of their governments if their policy-making becomes more responsive to foreign demands than to the preferences and needs of their citizens.

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information

Series Title: -
Call Number: 330.968 KOC d
Publisher: Africa : African Minds., 2016
Collation: XI, 383 p
Language: English
ISBN/ISSN: 9781928331391
Classification: 330.968
Content Type: -
Media Type: -
Carrier Type: -
Edition: -
Subject(s): Developing countries
Economic assistance
Technical assistance--Evaluation
Specific Detail Info: -
Statement of Responsibility: -

Other version/related

No other version available

File Attachment

9781928331391
Other Resource Link

Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment