African Governments Should Be Accountable to Their Own People, Not Aid Agencies (Maybe Not Even the ICC)

Award-winning Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda was eloquent on this point at our recent conference: Andrew Mwenda on Taxation and Accountability in International Aid from LF on Vimeo.

Some recent research supports his view -- aid is associated with less democracy, and of course less democracy means less accountability to your own people:

Simeon Djankov & Jose Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol, 2008. "The Curse of Aid," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 169-194. Link to abstract here.

Perhaps a distantly related issue -- Some are also wondering if it really helps to make Sudan's leader accountable to outsiders, in this case the International Criminal Court. The always perceptive Alex de Waal is not so sure.