IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION IN UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Although international development organization has been linked to social and economic development in countries such as China and India, most African countries have made relatively little progress in reducing poverty despite a substantial amount of aid (Besley & Burgess, 2007).
It is estimated that between 1956 and 2006, the total amount of foreign aid disbursed to developing countries, including Sub-Saharan African countries totaled over $2.3 trillion dollars. For the African continent, over $568 billion dollars of the total amount of aid during this fifty years period are recorded to have been distributed to this region (OECD, 2006; Easterly, 2006a; Powell & Ryan, 2006; Easterly, 2007b).
Grounded in the big push theory (Abuzeid, 2009), an international development organization has been promoted as a solution to the unstable environment and weak socio-economic growth. According to the theory, financial assistance from international development organizations in the form of development aid is necessary to foster economic, social, human resource and technological development and ultimately poverty reduction.
This is because international development organization provides investments in health, education, social services, business development, and infrastructure deemed necessary to create sustainable and growing economies based on stable employment, healthy levels of trade and rule of law (Francois & Sud, 2006). Foreign support is a core explanation behind the disbursement from the international development organization and assistance to developing countries.
The ‘big push’ model is still widely accepted by foreign donors and other western nations as the keyway in which Africa can be raised from its current state of economic and social instability and under-development to the position of a developed region (Easterly, 2005; 2007; Burnside & Dollar, 2000), multilateral donors such as the World Bank and IMF, have continued to provide large amounts of official development assistance (ODA) of over $1.53 billion dollars to developing countries between 2005 and 2016 (OECD, 2016) … (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Statement of the Problem
Research also suggests that the aid work of international development organizations in a well-governed environment with good policies can result in better results from foreign aid. Conversely, there is evidence that recipient countries with poor policies and governance environments inhibit the impact of foreign aid (Burnside &Dollar, 2000; Collier & Dollar, 2001, 2002; Brautigam & Knack, 2004; Lgbaekemen, et al. 2014).
For example, Moyo (2009) explains that foreign aid has not only been ineffective in supporting the economic growth in African countries but that it has exposed Africa’s leadership, the government and the system at large to corruption due to the lack of credibility (see also Dunning, 2004; Nielsen, 2013).
Since most official development assistance disbursed to Africa is often released on ineffective terms, it makes it easier for the disbursed funds to be siphoned through corruption and ultimately destroys the power of free enterprise by making African countries aid-dependent for a larger percentage of their future budget (Moyo, 2009; Weylandt, 2013)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Research Objectives
The broad objective of the study is to examine the overall impact of the International Development Organization in an Unstable Environment using Nigeria as a case study. Specifically, the study seeks to examine the following objectives;
- The role of international development organization on economic development… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter reviews the research evidence on the relationship between foreign aid, development, and corruption in Africa as supported by the literature. The chapter also identifies related findings based on the literature and opportunity theory of corruption which explains the relationship between foreign support, governance, and corruption in Africa.
International Development Aid and its History in Africa
The history of international development aid can be traced back to the 1950s. During this period, international development aid was largely characterized by military assistance during the first and second world wars (Lumsdaine, 1993; Kai, 2013) as well in the form of food aid because of the need for world-wide sustenance after the Second World War.
Of note in the history of international development, aid was the need for the rebuilding of Western Europe after the world wars through the Marshall Plan (De Long &Eichengreen, 1991). The Marshall Plan was put in place to create financial investment strategies and to support the rebuilding of damaged economies and infrastructural facilities during the war.
The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the International Trade Organization (ITO) were core international organizations created to provide and facilitate foreign support after the Second World War. This was largely in the method of granting large amounts of capital in the form of loans and grants to encourage investments for the reconstruction needed after the outcome of the Second World War.
This act of financial support for development and reconstruction to promote global development led to the history of foreign support in its different forms and dimensions to countries of the world including Sub-Saharan African nations (De Long & Eichengreen, 1991; Lumsdaine, 1993; Kai, 2013)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
The Big Push Theory
The big push theory is one of the early models of analysis used by economists to explain how the national savings of poor countries is less than the demands for their survival. The big push theory is the notion that holds that any developing country needs support from external donors to promote its development (Easterly, 2005).
African countries have been regarded as developing countries due to their social and economic status, especially since the average daily living in Africa is between $1.5 and $2 US dollars (World Poverty Statistics, 2016).
In this view, poor countries like the African countries are assumed to need huge foreign support or Official Development Assistance (ODA) as the means to close the poverty gap and to maintain sustainable social and economic systems… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
International Development Organisation and socio-economic development in Africa
Furthermore, donor countries have been found to often support developing countries with which they have cultural and political ties (Ram, 2003). Ram found that donor countries with these strategic ties have more of their benefits at mind than the supposed notion of supporting the development of their aid recipient countries.
In other words, donor countries or bilateral aid donors, unlike the multilateral aid donors, disburse more aid support to recipient countries that they anticipate being able to manipulate based on the shared strategic ties. The self-interest motive at the heart of the donor countries comes to play as they are able to covertly or indirectly manipulate the recipient countries as a condition of aid disbursement.
The implication of such an approach is breeding corruption in the recipient countries’ system of governance in as much as they consider the self-interest conditions outlined by the bilateral aid donors (Ram, 2003). Recipient countries are thus indirectly conditioned to adjust their governance and institutional policy towards accommodating the pre-determined conditions set out by the donor countries for aid allocation (Dunning, 2004; Zafar, 2007; Nielsen, 2013)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Summary
Evidence supporting that infrastructural aid may provide more opportunity for siphoning the funds more than the other forms of foreign aid was also presented in this chapter.
I used the opportunity theory to argue that aid allocation is usually released to developing countries because of the benefits that may be accruable to donor countries from aid recipient countries and thus leading to corruption and the atmosphere of lax governance and institutional quality for aid recipient countries… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the method used in carrying out the research. This will be done to show the research design and how the answers to the research questions were obtained. The researcher finds it necessary to use the following instrument in order to analyze; impact of international development organizations in an unstable environment. The main areas of concern in this chapter include; Research approach, Research Design, Method of data collection, and Method of data analysis.
Research Approach
This research aims to find out the impact of an international development organization in an unstable environment, and to achieve this, qualitative research seems most appropriate. The Qualitative research design is suitable for discovering the experiences of people (Vishnevsky & Beanlands, 2004).
The first part of the approach shows a logical relationship between theory and research where theory is eventually generated from the research… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Research Design
Crowe et al. (2011) explain that the case study is useful ‘when there is a need to obtain an in-depth appreciation of an issue, event, or phenomenon of interest, in its natural real-life context. This study’s context reflects the unstable political, economical, social, and environmental conditions in the country while attempting to examine aid effectiveness.
Only an in-depth approach such as a case study in an affected area could do justice to the research. The main objective of this research is to look at the link between the effectiveness of the international organization and political and socio-economic development… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
- Introduction
Although organizations within the United Nations system are the first to come to mind when we speak of international bodies, the term refers to a plethora of organizations, inter-governmental, governmental and non-governmental, whose origin may be local, national, regional or global but whose outreach is “international”.
These institutions may be found in all countries, developed, developing, middle-income, countries in transition, those in or emerging from conflict, and so on.
- Role of International Organisations
The role of any organization is dependent on the aim or purpose behind the formation of such a body. There is always an interesting area that attracts member states. The present-day realities show that international entities play various roles which range from intrastate, intra-regional to international roles.
However, the general roles of international organizations include: acting as a forum for interaction among the member states and aiding cooperation, assistance in solving problems that are beyond state capacity, acting as instruments for furthering foreign policy interests for states, etc… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
- Contribution of International Development Organisation towards Political and Economic Stability
Economic development is the development of the economic wealth of countries, regions, or communities for the well-being of their inhabitants.
From a policy perspective, economic development can be defined as efforts that seek to improve the economic well- being and quality of life in a community by creating and/or retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes and the tax base, economic development is a policy intervention endeavor with aims of economic and social well-being of people.
Typically it involves improvements in a variety of indicators such as literacy rates, life expectancy, and poverty rates. Essentially, a country’s economic development is related to its human development, which encompasses, among other things, health and education. (Jose, 2003)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
The Relationship between Aid Effectiveness and Socio-Political Stability
Beyond the contribution to the economic stability of the nation, Nigeria has also received help in the security of lives and properties of its citizens from international organizations. The one that readily comes to mind is the role of the African Union in the combat of Islamic insurgency in Nigeria.
Islamic insurgency (BokoHaram) is a national menace and embarrassment. The terrorist group through suicide attacks, indiscriminate bombing, and community attack made Bornu state a nightmare. The level of insecurity got to unimaginable height, and almost beyond the national troops. The African Union, however, came to the aid of Nigeria through the Chad troops.
The troops drove the Islamic militants out of the border towns which marked the beginning of victory over the terrorist group. The Commonwealth of Nations of which Nigeria is a member has been contributing immensely to the security issues in Nigeria… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
Recent and existing literature shows that foreign aid and governance are crucial to any nation’s social and economic development. Some studies suggest that since foreign aid increases corruption in recipient countries, it can be utilized positively in nations with effective governance measures.
- Conclusion
International organizations play a very key role in national development. Nigeria had at certain times contributed to the national development of some other countries like the peacekeeping mission in Liberia under ECOWAS. However, Nigeria has benefited immensely from other international institutions. These organizations had played a key role in the various aspects of national development. It has also been seen that membership to these international bodies has some disadvantages… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
- Recommendations and Suggestions for Further Studies
It may appear that using GDP annual growth and health spending is not enough measures for development but these measures were selected based on the availability of data across all countries of interest for this research.
Most other development indicators for Sub-Saharan African countries from the data source have too many missing data and will end up not being a true representation for the Sub-Saharan African region… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
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