TY - JOUR
T1 - Australian aid after the "Golden Consensus': from aid policy to development policy?
AU - Day, Benjamin
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - In the decade preceding the election of the Abbott Coalition Government in 2013, a so-called 'golden consensus' governed Australian aid policy. During this period Australia's aid spending increased by over 80% in real terms. However, after winning government the 2013 Federal Election, the Abbott Government made a series of significant and unexpected aid policy decisions, cutting the aid budget three times in fifteen months and integrating AusAID, Australia's aid agency, into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This article considers the future role of aid in Australia's diplomacy primarily by engaging with a prior question: how was it possible for the golden consensus to be uprooted so easily? Conducting a post-mortem reveals that Australia's development constituency bears some responsibility for the fragility of the consensus. This analysis also reveals the critical role the development constituency will play in determining the extent to which Australia is able to embrace the 'beyond aid' agenda. To meet this contemporary challenge, the development community must heed the lessons of the collapse of the golden consensus and, in particular, overcome its reticence to engage in broader foreign policy debates.
AB - In the decade preceding the election of the Abbott Coalition Government in 2013, a so-called 'golden consensus' governed Australian aid policy. During this period Australia's aid spending increased by over 80% in real terms. However, after winning government the 2013 Federal Election, the Abbott Government made a series of significant and unexpected aid policy decisions, cutting the aid budget three times in fifteen months and integrating AusAID, Australia's aid agency, into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This article considers the future role of aid in Australia's diplomacy primarily by engaging with a prior question: how was it possible for the golden consensus to be uprooted so easily? Conducting a post-mortem reveals that Australia's development constituency bears some responsibility for the fragility of the consensus. This analysis also reveals the critical role the development constituency will play in determining the extent to which Australia is able to embrace the 'beyond aid' agenda. To meet this contemporary challenge, the development community must heed the lessons of the collapse of the golden consensus and, in particular, overcome its reticence to engage in broader foreign policy debates.
U2 - 10.1080/10357718.2016.1220493
DO - 10.1080/10357718.2016.1220493
M3 - Article
SN - 1035-7718
VL - 70
SP - 641
EP - 656
JO - Australian Journal of International Affairs
JF - Australian Journal of International Affairs
IS - 6
ER -