On Monday 14 October, NIMD organised a book presentation by Thomas Carothers and Diane de Gramont at the Humanity House in The Hague. Thomas Carothers is the Director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Democracy and Rule of Law Program and is a leading authority on international support for democracy and governance.
Thomas Carothers presented his book ‘Development Aid Confronts Politics: The Almost Revolution’. The first chapters of the book describe the history of the prominence of political goals and methods in the development field. It that politics only started playing a role in mainstream development thought since the beginning of the 1990s. From that period there has been an increased acknowledgment of the importance of addressing political issues when engaging in development aid. The second half of the book describes the future of the politicisation of development policy. Here Carothers and Gramont assert that development aid should be more political. Although there has been progress in recent years, Carothers and Gramont are not certain whether or not the trend of this increased politicisation of development aid will continue.
Afterwards Jean Bossuyt, Head of Strategy European Centre for Development Policy Management, gave his vision on the book in a review. He stressed the importance of political participation of the public to achieve success in development and noted that the Western reaction to the Arab Spring had proven that there still is a long way to go. The sessions was concluded with a discussion with the audience on the future of politics in development. A book presentation like this brings together academics and practitioners to exchange knowledge and views, and debate the underlying questions of development policy and democratisation.
Click here to purchase the book on Amazon.
Click here for a review of the book.
