ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how a relational accountability approach could be used to rebalance the approach to aid to address some of the failings of aid policy. The chapter examines the impact of perverse incentives in the context of dissonance between events within the lower procedural levels of the hierarchy, and the higher, more pervasive, relational characteristics, pointing to causes of conflict resulting from discord between the two. The relational understanding of power assumes that donors should understand the socio-political context of the recipient country. The chapter explains some commonalities in the development discourse, yet each donor has specific foreign policy objectives that result in the dominance of different styles of aid delivery and specific interests. The changing aid landscape has seen a rise in donors outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developments Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC), as well as a changing geopolitics that sees African countries acting as donors to China.
