ABSTRACT
The election in May 1997 of a Labour government after 18 years of Conservative rule has opened up the possibility of significant change in the UK’s aid and development policies. There are two major questions facing the new government:
Will it reverse the trends of previous years and pursue a fundamentally different development policy (and paradigm) or simply reform with a more human face? Will development be a real government priority - under an empowered new Department for International Development (DFID) - or will it continue to play second or third fiddle to trade and foreign policy?
