The role and responsibility of foreign aid in recipient political settlements

This article revisits the basic concept of political settlement by using an incumbent-challenger ideal type and defines the mechanisms through which a settlement is influenced by foreign aid: diffusion, legitimation and brokerage. The new framework illustrates how aid may support continuity or change, and allows for an interrogation of the ethical implications of donor choices. Challenging the implicit utilitarianism prevalent in current agendas and practices in the development community, this analysis highlights the inescapable value judgments that must guide international assistance, despite the significant structural incentives to focus on supposedly calculable risks and results.