ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors trace changes in aid thinking and practice over time and one way they can summarise and categorise these changes; through the concept of 'aid regimes'. Aid seems to be a relatively permanent fixture in the theory and practice of global geopolitics. A consistent element of aid is that its allocation is not determined by any sort of dispassionate assessment of need – it does not automatically go where it is needed most. The origins of aid are usually seen to lie in the post-1945 environment of decolonisation and the Cold War. The Cold War then shaped the way donors approached these countries with some enthusiasm. Western science and technology, economic models and systems of government and administration constituted the templates for development. Indeed, these notions formed the basis of the Colombo Plan which also served an explicitly Cold War influenced purpose.
