Aid in Transition: EU Development Cooperation with Russia and Eurasia - Softcover

Grigoriadis, Theocharis N.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1493944533 ISBN 13: 9781493944538

Publisher: Springer, 2016

Synopsis

This book is the one of the first to address aid effectiveness as a political and comparative economics question. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition of its republics to market structures and more representative forms of government, the European Commission has recognized the necessity of a closer economic cooperation with Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the three largest economies of the former Soviet Union. This book suggests that the foreign aid of the European Union provided a set of reform incentives to post-Soviet planners. It created the grounds for the institutional and social transformation of the bureaucracy at both central and regional levels by integrating it into the aid allocation process. In Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the observed subordination of NGOs to the developmental priorities of the bureaucracy occurred at the expense of diversity and political openness. Nevertheless, this reality led to the emergence of transnational sovereignty partnerships that reduced poverty for the general population and motivated both bureaucrats and entrepreneurs to cooperate. Empirical models alone are not sufficient to delineate all the aspects of principal-agent relationships in post-Soviet bureaucracies. This is why formal modeling and analysis of qualitative data are extremely useful. Evaluation reports indicate the problems and challenges faced by aid bureaucrats and suggest that the weakly institutionalized environments of Ukraine and Central Asia/Kazakhstan are less conducive to aid effectiveness than the heavily bureaucratized environment of Russia. The proposed incentives system for the allocation of foreign aid links EU foreign policy with bureaucratic decision-making and reflects the choice sets of the donor and the recipient. Multilevel definitions of aid effectiveness are provided in the course of the book chapters.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This book is the one of the first―if not the first one―to address aid effectiveness from a comparative economics perspective. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition of its republics to market structures and representative forms of government, the European Commission had recognized the necessity of a closer economic cooperation with Russia and Eurasia. EU development aid provided a set of reform incentives to post-Soviet planners. It created the grounds for the institutional transformation of central and regional bureaucracies by integrating them into the aid delivery process. In the former Soviet Union, the subordination of civil society to the developmental choices of recipient bureaucracies occurred at the expense of diversity and political openness. Nevertheless, it led to the emergence of transnational sovereignty partnerships (TSPs) between recipient bureaucracies and donor-financed NGOs or business consortia. Multiple definitions of aid effectiveness are provided in the course of the book chapters. Those include the soft budget constraint, contractual completeness under imperfect monitoring, optimization of donor policy preferences, and ex-post evaluation of aid programs.

The effectiveness of development aid is contested. Here Theocharis Grigoriadis provides a careful new analysis of aid to Russia and Eurasia following the collapse of the Soviet Bloc that sheds light on both its politics and economics. Must reading for anyone who wishes to think hard about development aid. ― Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley.

Aid in Transition: EU Development Cooperation with Russia and Eurasia provides a wealth of analysis and knowledge for scholars and policy-makers seeking to understand the role of EU assistance to the European and Eurasian transition economies. The authorfinds that strong institutions of civil society complement aid effectiveness by concentrating on the micro-foundations of aid delivery and implementation. This volume should be in the libraries of all social scientists and policy-makers studying the causes and consequences of economic modernization and the role of institutions in development. It will have lasting value. ― Judith Thornton, Professor of Economics, University of Washington.

A unique comparison of the EU aid effectiveness to the countries such as Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. An important analysis of the workings of aid systems, essential for the understanding of the models and the implications of foreign aid. ― Professor Alena Ledeneva, University College London.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1493944533
• ISBN 13: 9781493944538
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 119