Is international cooperation for poor countries' development still efficient today ?

Résumé du document

According to a recent official report of the OECD, the poor and very indebted countries are poorer today than twenty years ago. A second fact is that in the 1980's - twenty years ago - international organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the WTO started a policy of loans in favor of least-developed countries (LDCs) in exchange of the liberalization of their economies. Can we really link these two facts? We want to discuss the methods of this cooperation by linking the direct consequences in LDCs. First, let us specify that the debate is not about contesting the international aid itself. We want to applause the fact that cooperation exists. Rather it is all about analyzing its means and its efficiency, because the real results can be seen near the first concerned: the LDCs inhabitants, not in the governments' speeches or the World Bank accomplishment of its purposes. Thus we will prove that nowadays, cooperation for LDCs' development is often inappropriate, unsuitable or carried out for profitable reasons.

Extraits

[...] - The privatisation of national firms in favour of rich countries' multinational firms, which start to merchandize collective and public goods as water. Furthermore, the negotiations are done in a context of political pressure and corruption. And, as showed in the movie Bamako, of A.Sissako that is doing the lawsuit of international organisations in the court of a house of Bamako, structural adjustment creates a real, deep harm for local population. Here's an example In Senegal, the SONEES (the national society for water exploitation) has been bought out by Bouygues that has now the exclusive monopoly of water exploitation. [...]

[...] This example also proves that international aid is often inadequate, unsuitable to the local reality. What could be the reasons of this failure? Often political ideas and bureaucracy produce the gap between the local needs and the international aid. In fact, after an expert's mission, the expert in charge of the project has to convince the donors member of international organisations, often countries' representative. He has to face up to each country's conditions and priorities, which are often more political and ideological than concrete. [...]

[...] We are convinced that the export of a Western model is harmful for LDCs. We disrupt customs without being concerned. Ending with a disturbing truth, we want to reveal the undersides of international cooperation for LDCs' development. As nothing is free anymore in a globalized world, helping countries is often acting for profitable reasons. At a time, they impose free trade and privatisations, but right after they launch their own multinational firms in the country. As seen for Bouygues in Senegal, they set up quickly. [...]

[...] The gap between the different interpretations of development also shows the inefficiency of cooperation. While financing LDCs' development, IMF or WTO impose what they think to be the better way to reach it: the market economy. We cannot deny, as Amartya Sen said, that the market is the best way to guarantee individual liberties. But, we still contest the system's efficiency in the LDCs. Setting up the market in a country brings a whole of values linked with capitalism, such as competition, entrepreneurship, Nevertheless, from a cultural point of view, such values that have proved their efficiency in North countries appear to be unsuitable to Africa especially. [...]

[...] If countries keep on being helped, they cannot develop and they are tempted to take advantage of the money coming. Southern Asia is showing us that development comes with independence. So why are international organisations so present in LDCs? Apparently LDCs don't manage alone, because of the climate, the diseases, But especially because of their colonial past that prevented them from building and developing their countries themselves: modernity came without their efforts. A situation that is still a great issue in LDCs' evolution. [...]