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‘All the world's a stage’: structure, agency and accountability in international aid

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  • Gerhard Hoffstaedter
  • Chris Roche

Abstract

This paper explores recent critiques of aid and responses to them, with a particular focus on attempts to address accountability concerns. It describes, with particular reference to Africa and Melanesia, some of the assumptions that underpin these responses. Using the allegory of theatre, we suggest that much of the formal process of interaction between aid agencies and local actors can be seen as a ‘performance’, and what goes on behind the scenes is often, and sometimes deliberately, ignored. We review why this ‘theatre’ is constructed and how it is maintained, as well as why attempts to dismantle it, or at least change the way it functions, have not met with much success. As a result, we propose alternative ways of addressing issues of accountability, as it relates to International Aid and Cooperation, based on some rather different assumptions about states, civil society, citizens and change than those upon which many of the current attempts to address accountability are based.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerhard Hoffstaedter & Chris Roche, 2011. "‘All the world's a stage’: structure, agency and accountability in international aid," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 529-543.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:rjapxx:v:16:y:2011:i:4:p:529-543
    DOI: 10.1080/13547860.2011.610886
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Owen Barder, 2009. "Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid," Working Papers 185, Center for Global Development.
    2. Mark McGillivray & Simon Feeny & Niels Hermes & Robert Lensink, 2005. "It Works; It Doesn't; It Can, But that Depends...: 50 Years of Controversy Over the Macroeconomic Impact of Development Aid," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-54, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
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    Cited by:

    1. Chynoweth, Sarah K. & Zwi, Anthony B. & Whelan, Anna K., 2018. "Socializing accountability in humanitarian settings: A proposed framework," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 149-162.

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