ABSTRACT
A sensible appreciation of the role, implications and future of bilateral aid necessitates a brief review of the problems encountered in the mutual relations between the less and the more fully developed countries. Only in the light of these problems, some psychological, can we make sensible decisions about the way in which aid should be channelled, distributed and composed. The fear that bilateral aid might lead or contribute to eventual military involvement or undue political influence has been used by high-minded people of great goodwill as an argument for its root-and-branch condemnation, without due enquiry into its political advantages. Nor have the potential, or even actual, drawbacks of its alternative, the use of multilateral channels, been explored, and suggestions made for their improvement. The total amount of aid can hardly be expected to remain on the same scale if it were switched from bilateral to multilateral channels.
