The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Has Done So Much Ill and So Little Good / by William Easterly

.

For sixteen years, William Easterly was a senior research analyst with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) World Bank where he witnessed both the blight of global poverty and the further tragedy of ineffectual, often detrimental attempts at intervention on behalf of the world's wealthier, developed nations. Currently a professor of economics at NYU as well as a senior fellow with the Center for Global Development, Easterly's previous book The Elusive Quest For Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics, has also received rave reviews.

..

When the Red Cross was established in 1863, its mission was to alleviate suffering by ensuring that humanitarian aid would be provided on an impartial footing for all persons and nations alike. Over the years this credo has been bolstered and reinforced by numerous other philanthropic agencies, all of which have contributed multitudes of resources, capable man power and trillions of dollars toward the cause. Yet all the collective aid and funding has done abysmally little for the populations most in need of assistance and, in some cases, the situation has become even worse.

.

Easterly claims that much of the problem lies with the hegemonial ideologies inherent in westernized countries--a sort of "we know what's best for the rest of the world" attitude. All too often, high-minded humanitarian schemes are implemented by woefully ill-informed "Planners" who know little to nothing about the places and people they're trying to help, thus erring horribly in their inflexible designs for assuaging disease and poverty and, all too frequently, having said resources "absorbed" by the political regimes of suffering nations. The ineptitude of bureaucracies and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) in accounting for aid apportionment, who mediates it and what happens after it exchanges hands is another major reason why places like Africa and South Asia are still dirt poor and continue to be ravaged by treatable illnesses such as malaria and tuberculosis.

.

Despite his cynicism, Easterly says there is hope. Sustainable development requires non-temporal, grass roots aid programs in order for progress to be made. Existing humanitarian organizations must coordinate their efforts through what the author terms the "Searchers", or aid agencies and NGO's adaptable to alternate methodologies and target-nation perspectives. Aid itself won't end poverty. Only the self-reliance and forward-minded efforts of those residing in the poor nations, with practical ideas and regulated support properly rendered from western institutions, can permanently put an end to poverty. That being said, well-coordinated aid that is concentrated on "feasibly attainable" goals can eliminate the suffering of multitudes in the meantime (p.382-383).