The Price of Aid : The Economic Cold War in India / David C. Engerman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Engerman, David C., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic assistance--Political aspects--India--History--20th century.

Economic assistance.

Cold War--Economic aspects.

Cold War.

Economic assistance, American--Political aspects--India--History--20th century.

Economic assistance, American.

Economic assistance, Soviet--Political aspects--India--History--20th century.

Economic assistance, Soviet.

Geopolitics--India--History--20th century.

Geopolitics.

Cold War--Influence.

India--Economic conditions--1947-.

India.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 volume (unpaged))

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Debates over foreign aid can seem strangely innocent of history. Economists argue about effectiveness and measurement--how to make aid work. Meanwhile, critics in donor countries bemoan what they see as money wasted on corrupt tycoons or unworthy recipients. What most ignore is the essentially political character of foreign aid. Looking back to the origins and evolution of foreign aid during the Cold War, David C. Engerman invites us to recognize the strategic thinking at the heart of development assistance--as well as the political costs. In The Price of Aid, Engerman argues that superpowers turned to foreign aid as a tool of the Cold War. India, the largest of the ex-colonies, stood at the center of American and Soviet aid competition. Officials of both superpowers saw development aid as an instrument for pursuing geopolitics through economic means. But Indian officials had different ideas, seeking superpower aid to advance their own economic visions, thus bringing external resources into domestic debates about India's economic future. Drawing on an expansive set of documents, many recently declassified, from seven countries, Engerman reconstructs a story of Indian leaders using Cold War competition to win battles at home, but in the process eroding the Indian state. The Indian case provides an instructive model today. As China spends freely in Africa, the political stakes of foreign aid are rising once again.-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction Foreign Aid and Development Politics in India

PART I: Learning Development, 1947–1955

Debating Development and Discovering India

Inventing Development Aid

PART II. The Heyday of the Economic Cold War, 1955–1966

The Geopolitics of Economic Expertise

The Aid Project and Cold War Competition

“Free Money” and the Tilt Toward the West

Military Supply and the Vicissitudes of Aid Politics

PART III: The Bitter Fruits of Development Politics, 1960–1974

Bets, Bargains, and the Price of American Aid

Soviet Aid from Inspiration to Armory

India’s Double Crisis and the Price of Aid

Conclusion: Development Politics and the Price of Aid

Note on sources

Abbreviations

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Aug 2018)

ISBN:

9780674986060

0674986067

9780674986084

0674986083

OCLC:

1030304481