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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Maren extrapolates a bit from limited experience in Somalia., 10 Jul 1999
By A Customer
Maren does a good job of smearing the UN system, US foreign policy directions, and corrupt officials of the developing world. He does less well when it comes to the private international aid organizations, whose evisceration seems to be his primary aim.He targets mainly CARE and Save the Children, two vastly different organizations. The blunders and witting or unwitting contributions to the problems of Somalia made by CARE and the other large NGOs are not in the same category as the problems associated with sponsorship. He should probably have trained his sights more carefully on one or the other problem. Instead we get a scattershot denunciation of all attempts at aid, as patronizing, self-serving, and ultimately destructive. Some of the 'facts' he uses to support his case are patently flawed--especially his discussion of the PL480 program and his definitions of Title I, Title II and Title III. This may be academic, but these mistakes undermine some of his broader points. Finally, while I agree most wholeheartedly about the apathy and ignorance--bordering on criminal neglect--which is rife within the UN system, I think his tar-brush is a bit too ambitious when it comes to the overall picture of international aid. I fully support his recommendation, at the end of the penultimate chapter, that an independent body be established to accredit organizations who are actually doing good, and to channel donors toward them as the most hopeful targets of resources. My fear is that probably the largest organizations in existence today wouldn't make the list, and some of the smaller, more professional ones, when injected with so much donor capital, will become bloated and ineffective, much as the big ones are today.
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by R Calderisi
by William Easterly
by Amartya Sen
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