In just a few sentences, she managed to skewer the self-absorbed Western pop stars who have managed to become the face of Africa. Moyo came across not as a firebrand (unlike some critics), but as a highly polished and able debater. Will the book achieve that goal? That's tough to predict, but judging by Moyo's poise during her presentation, I'd say she has a sporting chance. Seen in this light, Moyo's book can't be judged simply on its own arguments, but rather on the degree to which it helps move public discourse on the aid industry - and by public discourse, I don't mean rarely read academic journals - in the right direction. Her goal is to get this point across to a mass audience, and then to propose alternative strategies for development. Dambisa Moyo is a formidable critic - this much I learned from her presentation at the World Bank earlier this week. Moyo is the author of Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa, a book critical of the aid industry that the Economist recently dismissed with the following words: "her arguments are scarcely original and her plodding prose makes her the least stylish of the critics." After hearing her speak, I realized that the Economist had completely missed the point.Īt the beginning of her presentation, Moyo made clear that the point of her book was not to develop new arguments as to why aid has failed. Those arguments have already been made quite rigorously in any number of academic papers.
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