WHAT DONORS MEAN BY GOOD GOVERNANCE - HEROIC ENDS, LIMITED MEANS, AND TRADITIONAL DILEMMAS OF DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

Growing concerns about the effectiveness of traditional aid policies have motivated donors to extend the agenda on development co-operation, by explicitly dealing with participation and governance. The donor perspectives on these issues are critically discussed in this article. It argues that only limited means are available for donors to achieve the impressive - though not always consistent - list of economic, social and political ends. Conditionality is considered unlikely to be more effective than in the past if socio-political conditions are added. This leads to the conclusion that changed donor perspectives will have little impact unless aid recipients are ready to tackle the internal bottlenecks hampering economic and social progress.