The Rhetoric of Foreign Aid and the Need for International Trade: Challenges and Possibilities for Developing Nations. A Critical Perspective

This paper attempts to critically examine foreign aids by donor nations and agencies to the developing nations, and at the same time, examine international trade to show that the latter is better off. The study utilized dependency theory of underdevelopment to analyze why foreign aids have not being a spring board for development in developing nations. The paper found out that foreign aids over the years have not engendered development because of the conditionalities attached to such aids which come in the form of grants, loans, assistance etc. These further keep developing nations down as it is difficult to find examples of unequivocal success from receipt of official foreign aids. The reasons are not far-fetched. Since the 1940’s when official foreign aids started flowing, the motive seems to satisfy the donor interests and has little or nothing to do with egalitarian development and poverty reduction in developing nations. In view of this, international trade is far better to the developing nations, and same should be encouraged despite their disadvantaged position in global capitalist equation. The paper concluded that despite the fact that globalization and neo-liberalism favour the owners of big Corporations, mostly in advanced countries of the world, developing countries can still make some gains from international trade by looking inwards, rather than relying on foreign aids which have not been contributing in alleviating poverty and inequalities, but used to reward military and political allies and to promote private enterprise and unequal free trade.