Australian aid after the ‘Golden Consensus’: from aid policy to development policy?

Day, Benjamin

doi:10.1080/10357718.2016.1220493

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Dornan () examines conditionality and the limits to policy influence that donors exercise. There have also been studies of aid program changes on the donor side, the most relevant of which examine changes to Australia's and New Zealand's aid programs (see Banks et al () for a study of changes in New Zealand, and Corbett (), Corbett and Dinnen (), Day (), and Wood et al () for studies of changes to foreign aid in Australia).…”

Section: Literature On Aid In the Pacificmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign Aid to the Pacific: Trends and Developments in the Twenty‐First Century

Dornan

Pryke

2017

Asia & Pacific Policy Stud

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Pacific islands is one of the most aiddependent regions in the world. This article examines developments in the delivery of foreign aid to the region since the year 2000, a period in which there has been considerable change in both the amount and way in which aid is delivered internationally. Although Pacific island countries have seen a scale-up in development assistance, it has been modest relative to that enjoyed by other developing countries. Improvement has been mixed in areas identified as a concern by the aid effectiveness agenda, with high levels of volatility and lack of predictability particularly problematic.

show abstract

Section: Literature On Aid In the Pacificmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign Aid to the Pacific: Trends and Developments in the Twenty‐First Century

Dornan

Pryke

2017

Asia & Pacific Policy Stud

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A decade‐long ‘golden consensus’ era follows. During this period, aid spending volumes grow by over 80% in real terms, reaching a historical aid spending peak of $5.5 billion in 2013 (Day, 2016 ). The election of the Abbott Coalition government then triggers what Howes ( 2015 ) terms the ‘retrenchment’ era, where aid spending decreases at an even more rapid rate than it had expanded.…”

Section: Before Covid‐19: Three Eras Of Australian Aidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What explains this ambiguous approach to communicating the aid budget? Our explanation, in summary, is that this ambiguity is a product of an emergent political equilibrium that is forming around Australia's aid program, a consensus we have labelled the ‘cautious consensus’—in part to distinguish it from the ‘golden consensus’ that operated for a decade from the mid‐2000s (see Day, 2016 ). Our description of this consensus relates to the caution required for the Australian Government to balance the clear demands for additional aid spending in the region with fears of public backlash in Australia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What parliamentarians think about Australia's post‐COVID‐19 aid program: The emerging ‘cautious consensus’ in Australian aid

Day

Wells

2021

Asia & Pacific Policy Stud

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the Australian Government has been ambiguous in the way it has communicated the aid budget. On some occasions, it has sought to downplay increases in aid spending, while at other times it has sought to downplay cuts to aid spending. We draw on interviews with federal parliamentarians and key informants to understand these dynamics, in the context of obtaining their views on changes to Australia's post‐COVID‐19 aid policy. We find evidence that a new political consensus is forming around Australian aid. While this ‘cautious consensus’ countenances aid spending increases, motivated in part by humanitarian concerns but especially by anxiety about increasing Chinese influence in the region, these priorities are tempered by considerable concern about public backlash at a time of significant economic challenges for Australian citizens. Based on this evidence, we define the contours of an emerging ‘cautious consensus’ by showing how it will differ from the earlier ‘golden consensus’ era of Australian aid.

show abstract

“…Initially, Australia worked diligently towards becoming Myanmar's largest aid donor, enshrining governance reform as a key objective and coming close to Carr's target with AUD 99.1 million in official development assistance (ODA) between 2014 and 2015, of which AUD 73 million was bilateral (DFAT, 2015b, p. 4). However, with the phasing out of AusAID under the Abbott government, the aid programme became less of a priority, and bore a disproportionate burden of the budget cuts post-2016 (Corbett, 2017;Day, 2016). This, as Corbett (2017, p. 184) describes, represents an ever-present tension in Australia between the government and the development community over the role of aid.…”

Section: Myanmar's Transition and Australian Aidmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking Australia’s aid programme to Myanmar: Good governance and “informal constraints”

Roy

2020

Development Policy Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Motivation Discussions of good governance often highlight the definitional ambiguity associated with the concept. Recent scholarship on governance is beginning to emphasize the need for more context‐specific interpretations of good governance. Specifically, the literature draws on Douglass North’s institutional framework, but without paying enough attention to the role of “informal constraints.” This article seeks to address this gap by drawing on primary data. Purpose This article explores the dilemmas or the “informal constraints” facing actors in implementing governance aid, exploring this phenomenon through the case of Australia’s aid for good governance to Myanmar during 2012–2017. The principal question is: what are the informal constraints or dilemmas confronting actors when implementing governance aid? Methods The article is based on individual semi‐structured interviews with key informants based in Myanmar and Australia alongside analysis of government reports from development organizations working in Myanmar. Findings In Myanmar, the informal constraints facing actors include the inordinate role of the military in political life, the issue of decentralization and problematic nationalist discourses within the education system. This research also argues that Australia’s approach is deeply embedded in the same neoliberal ethos that prominent multilateral institutions have also followed, with little acknowledgement of the context‐specific informal constraints that actors confront when implementing governance aid in Myanmar. Policy Implication When discussing good governance, there is a need to recognize the informal constraints in implementing governance aid. In the case of Australia’s governance aid to Myanmar, little has been done to address or acknowledge the context‐specific challenges facing Myanmar’s quest for good governance.

show abstract

Australian aid after the ‘Golden Consensus’: from aid policy to development policy?

Cited by 11 publications

References 12 publications

Foreign Aid to the Pacific: Trends and Developments in the Twenty‐First Century

Foreign Aid to the Pacific: Trends and Developments in the Twenty‐First Century

What parliamentarians think about Australia's post‐COVID‐19 aid program: The emerging ‘cautious consensus’ in Australian aid

Rethinking Australia’s aid programme to Myanmar: Good governance and “informal constraints”

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About