Aid Conditionality and Democratic Ownership

Although the principle of democratic ownership was agreed by donors and recipients under the Paris Declaration, there is increasing concern - not only among civil society organizations (CSOs) but also governments - that conditionalities and tied aid are threatening its application. It has been shown that aid conditionality hampers the development of the countries they are supposed to help and infringes on countries’ democracy and sovereignty. This article provides an overview of aid conditionality in the context of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. It considers the impact such conditionality has on democratic ownership and its consequences for the populations and economies of developing countries.