International aid plays an ambivalent and contested role in stabilising the global system. It creates asym-metrical relationships between donors and recipients that succeed when their interests can be can harmo-nised but not when they conflict. Donors use their support to persuade sovereign...

Trade-offs between policies that promote economic growth and redistribute wealth are discussed extensively in the literature, both from a public finance perspective and from a macroeconomic angle. In fact, social safety nets are sometimes perceived by government in developing countries as a...