ABSTRACT
The introductory chapter highlighted the importance of a comprehensive analysis of effectiveness of foreign aid: first, this is a potentially significant debate at a time when aid flows are declining internationally despite calls for more aid, and second, and more importantly, the content of such debate has enormous policy implications for some of the largest recipients of foreign aid internationally – namely, the conflict-affected countries (CACs). These countries present a case where aid, if focused on short-term emergency assistance under a neo-liberal policy umbrella, will fail to have any positive long-term developmental impacts and might even worsen the conflict and its impact on the economy. In addition, a comprehensive and careful understanding of the nature of conflict, the type of aid flows, and the nature of economic performance under conflict can shed significant light on the workings and allocation of aid in these countries. Such analysis recognises the continued existence, albeit different in nature, of the process of accumulation and (de-) development in a conflict country.
