How new is the 'new' conditionality? Recipient perspectives on aid, country ownership and policy reform

The concept of country ownership is central to international efforts to improve aid effectiveness. At the same time, policy reform in recipient countries continues to be a donor priority, given its potential to both reduce poverty and improve aid effectiveness. How effectively can donors promote reform while not undermining ownership? What role can be played by conditionality, discredited in recent decades but still widely used in altered form and linked to the provision of budget support? This article draws on over 50 in-depth interviews with recipient country policy-makers, political leaders and donor officials to explore these questions in three aid-dependent Small Island Developing States (SIDS) where donors have used budget support to leverage policy reform