ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a critical analysis of the concept of post-World War II development aid multilateralism with a focus on the rise and hegemony of the Bretton Woods institutions, the emerging increased influence of the Beijing Consensus institutions and the impact of right-wing populism on development aid, and internal and external challenges to multilateralism and the world order. Based on these insights, major themes are identified and analysed, primarily Washington and post-Washington Consensuses, the Beijing Consensus, right-wing populist constituents including nativism, and anti- and de-globalisation, as well as counterhegemonic development discourse that challenges the very nature of development personified by multilateralism. Collectively these concepts and themes provide a coherent framework for the chapters which follow. In conclusion this chapter offers a basis for both a critical and sympathetic discourse of contemporary notions of multilateralism in a context of foreign aid.
