The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania

With the rise of the ‘knowledge for development’ paradigm, expert advice has become a prime instrument of foreign aid. At the same time, it has been object of repeated criticism: the chronic failure of ‘technical assistance’ – a notion under which advice is commonly subsumed – has been documented in...

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Main Authors: Peter Weingart, Susanne Koch
פורמט: Online
שפה:אנגלית
יצא לאור: African Minds 2021
נושאים:
גישה מקוונת:19911
תגים: הוספת תג
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author Peter Weingart
Susanne Koch
author_browse Peter Weingart
Susanne Koch
author_facet Peter Weingart
Susanne Koch
author_sort Peter Weingart
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description With the rise of the ‘knowledge for development’ paradigm, expert advice has become a prime instrument of foreign aid. At the same time, it has been object of repeated criticism: the chronic failure of ‘technical assistance’ – a notion under which advice is commonly subsumed – has been documented in a host of studies. Nonetheless, international organisations continue to send advisors, promising to increase the ‘effectiveness’ of expert support if their technocratic recommendations are taken up.   This book reveals fundamental problems of expert advice in the context of aid that concern issues of power and legitimacy rather than merely flaws of implementation. Based on empirical evidence from South Africa and Tanzania, the authors show that aid-related advisory processes are inevitably obstructed by colliding interests, political pressures and hierarchical relations that impede knowledge transfer and mutual learning. As a result, recipient governments find themselves caught in a perpetual cycle of dependency, continuously advised by experts who convey the shifting paradigms and agendas of their respective donor governments.   For young democracies, the persistent presence of external actors is hazardous: ultimately, it poses a threat to the legitimacy of their governments if their policy-making becomes more responsive to foreign demands than to the preferences and needs of their citizens.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-446792023-12-20T15:54:29Z The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania Peter Weingart Susanne Koch HM401-1281 JZ2-6530 JF20-2112 Africa Tanzania South Africa policy knowledge bic Book Industry Communication::J Society & social sciences::JF Society & culture: general::JFF Social issues & processes::JFFP Social interaction With the rise of the ‘knowledge for development’ paradigm, expert advice has become a prime instrument of foreign aid. At the same time, it has been object of repeated criticism: the chronic failure of ‘technical assistance’ – a notion under which advice is commonly subsumed – has been documented in a host of studies. Nonetheless, international organisations continue to send advisors, promising to increase the ‘effectiveness’ of expert support if their technocratic recommendations are taken up.   This book reveals fundamental problems of expert advice in the context of aid that concern issues of power and legitimacy rather than merely flaws of implementation. Based on empirical evidence from South Africa and Tanzania, the authors show that aid-related advisory processes are inevitably obstructed by colliding interests, political pressures and hierarchical relations that impede knowledge transfer and mutual learning. As a result, recipient governments find themselves caught in a perpetual cycle of dependency, continuously advised by experts who convey the shifting paradigms and agendas of their respective donor governments.   For young democracies, the persistent presence of external actors is hazardous: ultimately, it poses a threat to the legitimacy of their governments if their policy-making becomes more responsive to foreign demands than to the preferences and needs of their citizens. 2021-02-11T11:05:04Z 2021-02-11T11:05:04Z 2016-10-29 10:00:37 2016 book 19911 9781928331391 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/44679 eng application/octet-stream Attribution 4.0 International https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.824638 http://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/AMT-Delusion-of-Knowledge-Transfer-WEB.pdf African Minds 10.5281/zenodo.824638 10.5281/zenodo.824638 36099d72-8b22-4bf5-ab27-c2090263b9c6 9781928331391 396 open access
spellingShingle HM401-1281
JZ2-6530
JF20-2112
Africa
Tanzania
South Africa
policy
knowledge
bic Book Industry Communication::J Society & social sciences::JF Society & culture: general::JFF Social issues & processes::JFFP Social interaction
Peter Weingart
Susanne Koch
The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania
title The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania
title_full The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania
title_fullStr The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania
title_full_unstemmed The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania
title_short The Delusion of Knowledge Transfer: The Impact of Foreign Aid Experts on Policy-making in South Africa and Tanzania
title_sort delusion of knowledge transfer the impact of foreign aid experts on policy making in south africa and tanzania
topic HM401-1281
JZ2-6530
JF20-2112
Africa
Tanzania
South Africa
policy
knowledge
bic Book Industry Communication::J Society & social sciences::JF Society & culture: general::JFF Social issues & processes::JFFP Social interaction
topic_facet HM401-1281
JZ2-6530
JF20-2112
Africa
Tanzania
South Africa
policy
knowledge
bic Book Industry Communication::J Society & social sciences::JF Society & culture: general::JFF Social issues & processes::JFFP Social interaction
url 19911
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