IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/eurjdr/v32y2020i2d10.1057_s41287-019-00238-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Interpretive Complexity and Crisis: the History of International Aid to Myanmar

Author

Listed:
  • Anne Décobert

    (The University of Melbourne)

  • Tamas Wells

    (The University of Melbourne)

Abstract

In the last two decades, Myanmar has gone through profound political changes. Over this time, humanitarian and development interventions by Western donor agencies have been guided by shifting and simplified narratives of the political context. During periods of military authoritarianism, quasi-democratic government and the recent period of rule by the National League for Democracy, donors have also faced moments of ‘interpretive crisis’, where predominant assumptions about political figures or program strategies no longer align with outcomes. Over time, and through their unstable and shifting interpretations, Western donor agencies have often failed to work coherently and accountably with Myanmar state or non-state actors. Decisions about how, and to whom, aid is channelled have amounted to decisions about who are legitimate socio-political actors and agents of change. Aid has therefore influenced power balances in Myanmar and has had significant unintended consequences on development and political dynamics on the ground.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Décobert & Tamas Wells, 2020. "Interpretive Complexity and Crisis: the History of International Aid to Myanmar," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(2), pages 294-315, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:32:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1057_s41287-019-00238-y
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-019-00238-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-019-00238-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41287-019-00238-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefaan Marysse & An Ansoms & Danny Cassimon, 2007. "The Aid 'Darlings' and 'Orphans' of the Great Lakes Region in Africa," The European Journal of Development Research, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 433-458.
    2. Thomas J. Kaplan, 1986. "The narrative structure of policy analysis," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 5(4), pages 761-778.
    3. Susan Banki, 2009. "Contested Regimes, Aid Flows, and Refugee Flows: The Case of Burma," Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 28(2), pages 47-73.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olayinka Akanle & Olamide S. Shittu, 2022. "The Unending Development Question of Nigeria," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(1), pages 321-342, February.
    2. Elin Bjarnegård, 2020. "Introduction: Development Challenges in Myanmar: Political Development and Politics of Development Intertwined," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(2), pages 255-273, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Danny Cassimon & Dennis Essers & Karel Verbeke, 2016. "The changing face of Rwanda's public debt," BeFinD Working Papers 0114, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    2. Sam Desiere & Lotte Staelens & Marijke D’Haese, 2016. "When the Data Source Writes the Conclusion: Evaluating Agricultural Policies," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(9), pages 1372-1387, September.
    3. Berg, Annukka & Hukkinen, Janne I., 2011. "The paradox of growth critique: Narrative analysis of the Finnish sustainable consumption and production debate," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 151-160.
    4. Liam Swiss & Stephen Brown, 2015. "The aid orphan myth," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 240-256, February.
    5. Emmanuel Frot & Javier Santiso, 2011. "Herding in Aid Allocation," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 54-74, February.
    6. Curtis, Devon E. A., 2014. "Local agency, development assistance and the legacies of rebellion in Burundi and Rwanda," WIDER Working Paper Series 128, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Ronald B. Davies & Stephan Klasen, 2019. "Darlings and Orphans: Interactions across Donors in International Aid," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(1), pages 243-277, January.
    8. Ronald B. Davies & Stephan Klasen, 2013. "Of Donor Coordination, Free-Riding, Darlings, and Orphans: The dependence of bilateral aid on other bilateral giving," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 137, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    9. Anica Zeyen & Markus Beckmann & Stella Wolters, 2016. "Actor and Institutional Dynamics in the Development of Multi-stakeholder Initiatives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 341-360, May.
    10. Devon E. A. Curtis, 2014. "Local Agency, Development Assistance and the Legacies of Rebellion in Burundi and Rwanda," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-128, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh, 2009. "The emergence of global health partnerships as facilitators of access to medication in Africa: A narrative policy analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 949-956, March.
    12. Maria Husmann, 2015. "Social constructions of obesity target population: an empirical look at obesity policy narratives," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 48(4), pages 415-442, December.
    13. Devon E.A. Curtis, 2015. "Development assistance and the lasting legacies of rebellion in Burundi and Rwanda," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(7), pages 1365-1381, July.
    14. An Ansoms & Donatella Rostagno, 2012. "Rwanda's Vision 2020 halfway through: what the eye does not see," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(133), pages 427-450, September.
    15. Leo de Haan, 2010. "Perspectives on African Studies and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 45(1), pages 95-116.
    16. Hackenesch, Christine, 2015. "It’s Domestic Politics, Stupid! EU Democracy Promotion Strategies Meet African Dominant Party Regimes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 85-96.
    17. Thomas Spoorenberg, 2013. "Demographic Changes in Myanmar since 1983: An Examination of Official Data," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(2), pages 309-324, June.
    18. Magdalena Kania, 2021. "Sub-state Governments as Rising Stakeholders in Development Cooperation. The Added Value of Regional Governments in the Light of Debates on Effectiveness in Development," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(3), pages 604-625, June.
    19. Takeuchi, Shinichi, 2011. "Gacaca and DDR:The Disputable Record of State-Building in Rwanda," Working Papers 32, JICA Research Institute.
    20. Graham Harrison, 2016. "Rwanda: an agrarian developmental state?," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 354-370, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:32:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1057_s41287-019-00238-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.