Western, overly confident, and conventional systems of “helping” global poverty are by no means successful, and sometimes damaging, New York University economist William Easterly argues in his new book, The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (Penguin Press, March).
Western, overly confident, and conventional systems of “helping” global poverty are by no means successful, and sometimes damaging, New York University economist William Easterly argues in his new book, The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (Penguin Press, March).
Easterly, who also has an appointment with NYU’s Africa House, argues that Western aid plans have failed and will continue to do so because they are far too removed and detached from the situations of poverty they are attempting to improve. With “wry” and “highly accessible” writing (Publishers’ Weekly), he contends the West is not held responsible for its mistakes, and therefore is unlikely to fix strategies that do not work. In addition, the lack of feedback from those receiving aid creates a system in which the “white man” is blindly attempting to find and help the areas in need. He calls for an end at last to the impunity with which Western aid goes astray without reaching the poor.
For Western aid advocates and managers, he presents a choice. If you try to save the whole world, which implies that your contributions are so intangible that you avoid any responsibility for them, you do no good and you quite possibly do much harm. Comprehensive and utopian plans hold no one accountable to see a single child fed or to get an adult a single drink of clean water. If one focuses instead on finding one thing to help some desperately poor people to help themselves, much good can be done. One takes responsibility for whether that one thing succeeds or not and keeps experimenting and adjusting till the one thing works. Those who choose the second can be multiplied without limit and the good one can accomplish is endless.
Reporters interested in speaking to Easterly about topics relevant to his book should contact James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, at 212.998.6808 or james.devitt@nyu.edu.