The Aid for Trade Charade

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Aid for Trade Charade

AU - Langan, Mark

AU - Scott, James

PY - 2014/6

Y1 - 2014/6

N2 - Aid for Trade (AfT) has gained prominence as an innovative form of donor support in the ‘post’-Washington Consensus. AfT mechanisms have been praised as a means of aligning trade liberalisation deals (whether in the Doha Round or within bilaterals) to poverty reduction objectives. This article, through critical analysis of AfT discourse within the ‘moral economies’ of multilateral World Trade Organization and bilateral European Union–African, Caribbean and Pacific negotiations, points to the strategic purposes of donor language in rationalising asymmetric North–South trade systems. Moreover, it questions the ‘development’ credentials of AfT assistance by examining some of the ensuing private sector activities and the impact on the supposed beneficiaries, and the tying of AfT disbursements to the implementation of inappropriate policies.

AB - Aid for Trade (AfT) has gained prominence as an innovative form of donor support in the ‘post’-Washington Consensus. AfT mechanisms have been praised as a means of aligning trade liberalisation deals (whether in the Doha Round or within bilaterals) to poverty reduction objectives. This article, through critical analysis of AfT discourse within the ‘moral economies’ of multilateral World Trade Organization and bilateral European Union–African, Caribbean and Pacific negotiations, points to the strategic purposes of donor language in rationalising asymmetric North–South trade systems. Moreover, it questions the ‘development’ credentials of AfT assistance by examining some of the ensuing private sector activities and the impact on the supposed beneficiaries, and the tying of AfT disbursements to the implementation of inappropriate policies.

U2 - 10.1177/0010836713482880

DO - 10.1177/0010836713482880

M3 - Article

SN - 0010-8367

VL - 49

SP - 143

EP - 161

JO - Cooperation and Conflict

JF - Cooperation and Conflict

IS - 2

ER -