ABSTRACT
This chapter describes historical information to throw light on the forces shaping British aid policies towards Africa. It outlines key long-term policy developments, summarises the influences shaping these policies and comments on the present juncture of United Kingdom policies. The chapter shows that, while there have been many influences, governments have enjoyed considerable policy autonomy, being largely unconstrained in pursuing their preferences in a top-down manner. The long-term course of the policies of any institution is the result of interplay between inertial forces, tending to perpetuate the status quo and active forces for change. Policy-makers are constrained by history, by special interests which benefit from existing policies, by settled ways of viewing problems, by the perceived dangers or uncertainties of changing course. British imperialism— and post-colonial guilt— offers an obvious starting point. History enters the story in another way too, through its influence on the course of British domestic macroeconomic policies.
