ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to better understand what aid is, and has been, where it comes from and where it goes, how it is dispersed and what its impacts are. It focuses on aid which has some sort of development or humanitarian objective – such as economic growth, improved welfare or disaster relief – and most commonly we resort to the widely used definition of development aid as ODA, and focuses on aid which is delivered and received by state and civil society agencies. The book suggests that aid has changed significantly over time, often in response to different contemporary understandings of what development is or should be.
