The Taming of Democracy Assistance
Book description
Few government programs that aid democracy abroad today seek to foster regime change. Technical programs that do not confront dictators are more common than the aid to dissidents and political parties that once dominated the field. What explains this 'taming' of democracy assistance? This book offers the first analysis of…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Taming of Democracy Assistance as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Democracy aid deals with governance-related political reforms. Using statistics and case studies of the US, Tunisia, and Jordan, Bush understands the failures of democracy aid through the lenses of organizational politics. On the donors’ side, Bush documents how the professionalization of democracy aid forces nongovernmental groups to prioritize projects with quantifiable outputs that bureaucrats want. On the recipients’ side, Bush demonstrates the attempts by authoritarian regimes to control, restrict and co-opt the nongovernmental groups that seek democratic reforms. Buffeted from both directions, such nongovernmental groups respond by avoiding serious projects that challenge the authoritarian regime. Instead, they prioritize symbolic projects…
From Bann's list on using foreign aid to do good in a realistic way.
Want books like The Taming of Democracy Assistance?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Taming of Democracy Assistance.