摘要：The debate over the nature and impact of aid on the
economies and policy strategy of African countries
has been rancorous and protracted.A good detail of
the focus has been on empirical studies of the impact
of aid on economic growth including the role of
Washington consensus policies in enhancing or
reducing the effect of aid.1 Other studies have
looked less at the direct effects of aid and more at
the indirect effect of policy conditionality. Some
have argued that economic growth has done poorly
in Africa because orthodox policies were imple-
mented while others have purported to show the
very opposite.2 Still other have argued, based on
modeling of donor-government behavior that adjust-
ment was never implemented properly and that it
would have worked if properly followed.3 The focus
of this paper will be somewhat different. To test the
impact of aid on government policy, this short study
will focus on the levels of assistance over time and
the degree of policy convergence between three
countries in the same region of East Africa that
started from divergent policy positions. Instead of
abstract modeling of assumed behavior, the focus
will be on an historical account of the impact of
donor policies embedded in aid packages on the
shifting nature of government policy. In general, the
paper will argue that while there have been varia-
tions in relations between governments, internation-
al financial institutions (IFIs) and donors, aid and the
withholding of aid have been effective in breaking
down political resistance to orthodox reform and in
shaping East African economies in a neo-liberal
image.
