The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill And So Little Good

I've come to this rather late, as in this game the 6 years since publication has changed the story to some extent, but the basic message is still entirely valid. Easterly argues entirely correctly, that top-down planning in aid projects has been at best unsuccessful in most cases, and often downright harmful. He looks at the World Bank, for which he worked, the IMF and inter-country and big 'make poverty history' type projects, and demonstrates their futility. Instead of Planners, he argues persuasively, what is needed is Searchers - people on the ground looking at ways of dealing with specific issues of poverty, and finding ways of being answerable to the requirements of the poor themselves.Highly recommended.

Easterly sets out to prove that searchers are better than planners in his 2006 book. Throughout the book he explores what are the best efforts to enhance the lifestyles of less fortunate countries and their citizens. He uses a vast amount of research into many countries and has drawn on his own experiences to ensure the message gets across.The image of the planners and the searchers concept was new to development studies. A planner is the old way of working with developing countries where aid companies like IMF (International Monterey Fund) and World Bank gave money to the governments in hope that it would filter down to the disadvantaged citizens of the country. Easterly shows us that being a searcher who finds small projects to fund is a more beneficial and economically viable avenue to go down. As most of the countries who receive aid have corrupt governments this will ensure less aid is going to them.There are a lot of examples of different countries within the book which show positive aid efforts contrasted with negative aid efforts. The majority of the book looks at countries that are not good examples but towards the end he pulls on more positive cases. Easterly focuses on the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries to show positive examples of aid reaching who it they need to.There is a lot of research to propose the question, how is aid working in developing countries. When Easterly is making presumptions, he would let you know he has no way of proving it. Through highlighting that the aid companies have been recently putting measures in place to ensure that aid is being used in the right places. This shows that people like the World Bank and IMF have thought about what throw aid at disadvantaged countries is doing.When this book was published this seemed to be a new idea with in development. Sach's work was a main influence in Easterly's work, although Easterly has developed the main themes (Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2005). These pieces then lead to other publications investigating this concept. `Dead aid' looks at the concept from a purely economic view and crisis's aid development much like Easterly (Moyo, 2010). Whereas `War games' gives a lot of examples of NGO's and creates practical solutions to aid problems (Polman, 2011). Both of these works used `The White Man's Burden' as a precursor.Easterly writes about the history of colonisation and other events that have impacted on the third world towards the end of the book. This made me think that he has not looked into the history as much as the present. The present is a good place to start but most of the reasons for giving aid is because of colonial reasons according to earlier work (Fanon, 2008). Although, looking at the situation without history is a different and objective view, this cannot be the only way in which to evaluate disadvantaged countries.Easterly has a background working within the World Bank and makes very good arguments in regards to disturbing aid to countries that have corrupt government. He can understand and put in perceptive what different organisations can do. He also has a strong background economics with being the co-editor of the `Journal of Development Economics' and being a professor of economics at New York University (William Easterly, 2013). With this experience his presumptions that he makes are valid and are clearly clarified due to his experience.Throughout the book, Easterly gives us examples that Western readers can relate to. There are many examples including; Ambulance and accident references also Harry Potter sales references. `Feedback without accountability is like the bumper sticker I once saw on an eighteen-wheeler: DON'T LIKE MY DRIVING? CALL 1-800-SCREW-YOU.' - Easterly, pg14. This explained how accountability is very vital to aid as it will ensure that someone is working towards a meaningful outcome. This analogy shows that calling that number will not help the driver to improve which goes the same for aid agencies. Easterly uses these examples to explain complex ideas.Having an example of what Africa is like at the end of the chapter makes the reader understand what the problems really are. When reading statistics you can get caught up in them and dehumanise the problems. Easterly ensures you that the problems that are affected by the statistics can be brutal and heartfelt.This book was very easy to follow and a pleasure to read. It made the subject of aid interesting and gives the reader a lot to go away with. The new ideas and concepts that have been put together have been a new idea not just to me but also the whole International Relations community at the time. Not looking at the history first makes you think outside the box and the examples help bring home what a vitally important issue aid is.BIBLIOGRAPHYEasterley, W., 2006. The White Man's Burden: why the west's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Fanon, F., 2008. Black Skin, White Masks (Get Political). 3rd ed. Sidmouth: Pluto Press.Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2005. The End of Poverty: Economic Possiblities for Our Time. New York: Penguin Press.Moyo, D., 2010. Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa. 1st ed. London: Penguin .Polman, L., 2011. War Games: The Story of Aid and War in Modern Times. 1st ed. London: Penguin.William Easterly, 2013. William Easterly. [Online]Available at:[...][Accessed 21 11 2013].

Cogently and devastatingly argued. The overall moral is keep governments out of Aid. What they do often does more harm than good. What the world needs are those who are touched by compassion not politics

Found the first section on planners vs searchers fascinating. Completely changed how I view foreign aid. Excellent read. . .

Perfect thank you just what I was looking for.

How come $2.3 trillion dollars of Western aid has been spent in the last 50 years in Africa, my native continent, yet many African children still die of preventible diseases like dysentery, cholera and malaria? Why has Western good intentions not lifted Africa out of back-breaking poverty? Dr. William Easterly's argument in this fascinating book is that Western aid has failed because of the traditional approach to tackling Third World poverty: planning and bureaucracy. According to Easterly, Western aid by the Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the IMF) is the most recent reincarnation of the White Man's Burden, a concept immortalised by Kipling. The premise of the White Man's Burden in the 19th century was that Western Europe spread Christianity, commerce and civilisation to the coloured, benighted races of the world (of course, for the benefit of the coloured races).THE BOOK'S ARGUMENTS IN BRIEFMr Easterly, a former World Bank Economist, argues that the command-and-control bureaucrats of the aid establishment, whom he dubs 'Planners', cannot kickstart economic growth in the Third World because: (1) Planners are not accountable to the Third World poor since the poor do not vote in First World elections; (2) Planners' thinking is dominated by grandiose, non-specific plans such as the Millennium Development Goals; and (3) Planners think that they already have the answers. Hence, they tend to be patronising with ready-made answer for every poor country (e.g. structural adjustment, free markets and privatisation etc).The author contrasts Planners with Searchers, whom he defines as people who work on the ground, constantly trying out new ideas for poverty alleviation. He provides interesting accounts of aid projects, done by Searchers--Westerners, Africans, Indians--that were modest in scope but brought significant benefits to the poor. My favourite example was from India. By making a contribution of $5,000, Western donors built a toilet block for teenage girls in a rural school. This dramatically cut the drop-out rate for the girls because they (the girls) had been dropping out "in droves because of the embarrassment that they felt once they started menstruating and had no private facilities".He shows that contrary to the goals of the Planners, Western-style market societies cannot be planned "top-down". Markets in the developed West are the result of complex social and political institutions that evolved over thousands of years. Since free market opportunities in the West and The Rest depend on "bottom-up choices" which the planners don't begin to understand, Planners are doomed to fail in creating markets in the Third World.Though the subject of the book is a serious one, the tome is spiced with witty accounts of the histories of various Third World countries: Western support for UNITA in Angola, the Contras in Nicaragua and in Haiti. On page after page, Easterly provides grim evidence of the failure of the World Bank, the IMF and the Western political machinery to effect desired social change in the Third World. More often than not, Western good intentions led to much harm as in the above-mentioned countries. The message: Economic success in the Third World cannot be planned from an office in Washington DC. Instead, as has happened in Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China and India, it must be homegrown. Certainly Western aid still has a role to play but the Planners in the World Bank and IMF would do well to be more humble in their ambitions; they should seek incremental, targeted improvements in people's lives.SIMPLIFICATION, OBFUSCATION AND OUTRAGEThe book has at least three glaring limitations. First, Mr Easterly's analysis is often disingenuous. For instance, he shows that in (rich) Denmark, people trust their fellow countryfolk more than (poor) Filipinos do theirs. However, he erroneously concludes that wealth is a determinant of trust in a society. This sounds simplistic. Perhaps, causality is more complex. Could it be that Danes are more trustful of each other because theirs is a more ethnically homogeneous and egalitarian society than The Philippines? Could a history of extractive political and economic institutions in The Philippines be the cause of mistrust?Second, Easterly asks the reader to be indignant because $2.3trillion of Western taxpayer wealth has been wasted on foreign aid in the last 50years. Two questions for Easterly: How much money is $2.3trillion? Well, not much. It breaks down to $46billion per year on average - a miniscule percentage of annual Western GDP in the last 50years. The argument becomes even more risible when you divide the adjust it per capita of recipient country. $46billion per year is a drop in the ocean.How does $2.3trillion compare with the sums of money that the West extracted from Africa in the form of interest payments, bribes, shady deals with corrupt governments, private stash of dictators, and even recycled aid money? Mr. Easterly is taciturn on these issues. $2.3 trillion in Western aid over 50years is hardly enough reason for moral outrage; the failure of aid and hypocrisy of the aid system is.Third, Easterly's distinction between Planners and Searchers is simplistic. It is hard to believe that every employee of the World Bank and IMF falls neatly into the "Planner" category. Surely, the truth is more complex. However, since the coarse distinction works well in contrasting the traditional approach to aid, I'll not fault the author for this.Despite these limitations, Mr Easterly presents some ideas for making aid work: (1) Make aid agencies accountable for individual, feasible areas that help poor people improve their lives; (2) Give aid agencies the opportunity to experiment and search for what works; and (3) Abandon the Utopian blueprint to fix the Third World's complex problems. Instead focus on getting specific, incremental improvement in people's lives in fields such as health, sanitation and food security. Broad-brush plans for delivering market economies, 'Making Poverty History' or establishing the rule of law, laudable as they are, are doomed to fail.CONCLUSIONWestern (good?) intentions, grandiose planning, bureaucratic hubris and bleeding-heart campaigns do not end poverty. In the concluding chapter, the author makes a poignant point: "Aid won't make poverty history...only the self-reliant efforts of poor people and poor societies themselves can end poverty, borrowing ideas and institutions from the West when it suits them to do so." Easterly's is a call for humility as we try to tackle the problem of poverty in The Third World. It is also a message with which I concur and one that I, as a Nigerian, have taken to heart. I hope that Third World and Western policymakers are listening to Easterly. I recommend White Man's Burden for making such an important point.

A refreshingly frank easy to read book written from decades of "inside" knowledge and experience which should be a bible for anyone involved or interested in releasing Africa's undoubted potential

The most infuriating, heartbreaking and disturbing book i have read in a long time. How for the lack of a couple bucks worth of food and medicine and essentials like bed netting, millions suffer and die. How aid agencies funnel the money they raise into their own pockets and spend it on misguided and utopian schemes that don’t help the poorest people in the world. It is a sobering reminder of ones own privilege as well and how lucky we are that we are not in the shoes of the people whose stories are the tent pole of this book. It is also tremendously inspiring and illuminating as these same people are shown to have incredible courage and resilience and resourcefulness. This is a must read book for everyone. Don’t miss it

Fica claro que ajuda internacional de nada adianta para o fim da pobreza. Não que seja algo ruim ou mesmo que deveria ser descontinuada, mas apenas desenvolvimento interno baseado no dinamismo dos indivíduos, mercados livres e governos responsáveis chegará a este fim.A parte I é bem esclarecedora (1 - 163), a partir daí fica uma leitura mais cansativa e pouco proveitosa.

This book is a fresh perspective on the pitfalls of top down aid. After $23 trillion, Africa is still reeling under extreme poverty. Wonder where the money went - custom built gold plated cars for depots and dictators; double MBA educations for theirs kids in Harvard & Oxford! So in effect the aid came back to the west. Hopefully this book opens new perspectives on hoe to fix Africa aid and eventually Africa

This book provides the reader with detailed information about foreign aid and its negative impact on developing countries or so-called third-world countries. The description is based on empirical data, intensive researches and properly collected documents (materials) as well as longstanding experiences of the author in the sector of foreign aid and related institutions of the world. The book is therefore, worth to be read. I furtheremore, believe that every world citizen who has the chance to read this book, should be informed about this crutial subject matter.

Très bon livre parfaitement articulé et argumenté même s'il ne représente pas vraiment mes idées. Les critiques qu'Easterly fait de l'aide au développement mais aussi des actions de libéralisation de l'économie forcée via le FMI sont clairement frappées du bon sens. Son idée de "piecemeal progress" est là aussi très intéressant, le développement prend du temps et des échanges entre les gouvernements et les pauvres c'est une évidence. Seul problème de son argumentaire, l'idée qu'au final c'est toujours le marché à lui seul qui trouvera la solution. Le marché et les éternelles anecdotes de tel ou tel pauvre qui s'en est sorti brillamment comme si chaque pauvre était nécessairement un Bill Gates en puissance à qui on a juste pas donné sa chance.Un livre important pour quiconque s'intéresse au débat sur l'aide au développement aujourd'hui, bien loin des clichés habituels.