BOOK REVIEW: Foreign Aid and Its Unintended Consequences

Koch, Dirk-Jan (2024). Foreign Aid and Its Unintended Consequences (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003356851

Foreign Aid and Its Unintended Consequences by Dirk-Jan Koch, is an attempt to shift the aid effectiveness debate off the linear question of what works to the more complex and much-needed question of what else happens when international development interventions meet the randomness of the real world. Koch claims that the unintended effects are not rare exceptions, but they are an inherent characteristic of development assistance and he places these effects into ten (10) categories grounded in bounded learning and complexity theory. The author relies on qualitative methods by adopting case studies, experience and testimonies to illustrate the cases instead of quantitative generalisation. The review aims to critically assess Koch’s theoretical contribution to the debate on aid effectiveness and development policy, by highlighting the strengths, limitations and gaps for future studies.