Spectator letters: Aid, Arabs and how to spot a gentleman

The battle over aid

Sir: Why Nations Fail, the book rightly lauded in The Spectator (‘Why aid fails’, 25 January), is one of the inspirations for many of the changes this government has made in international development policy. Those changes can best be described as driving value for money through the system, tackling conflict and instability, and building prosperity. Bringing together defence, diplomacy and development — not least through the mechanism of the National Security Council — has made a significant difference to the success of British development policy. Buried in the article is the sentence: ‘We do not argue for its [the aid budget’s] reduction.’ Our development policy is about maximising the effectiveness of what we do in all the ways that this brilliant book extols.
Andrew Mitchell MP
International Development Secretary 2010–2012
London SW1
 
Sir: Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson (25 January) argue convincingly that the UK’s international aid isn’t working. But they draw the conclusion that this is because it isn’t smart enough or targeted enough.