Paper details

Paper authors	Sahar Taghdisi Rad
In panel on	Bringing Political Economy back to Centre-Stage
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

As economic downturn and nationalist political tendencies constrain traditional sources of aid, the international development assistance landscape has witnessed the undeniable yet enigmatic emergence of private actors and private aid modalities. This paper investigates the implications of this changing landscape for some of the largest aid recipients, namely fragile conflict-affected countries where leveraging private finance promises to enhance aid effectiveness and attract much-needed infrastructural investment. Through analysis of selected case studies of blended development finance in Palestine, one of the highest global per capita aid recipients, the project examines the developmental impact of aid privatisation. Using Palestine as a focal point, it will reach outwards to investigate the intersection of aid privatisation and conflict, and examine the political economy of this ‘private turn’ in development finance.

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