ESSAY - Good and bad aid: The rise and fall of two South Pacific universities

Since the early 1990s at least, it has been commonplace to assess the consequences of international multilateral and bilateral aid in such terms as meeting `good governance criteria, providing for accountability, transparency and openness (Larmour 1998, pp. 1-20). Subsequently criteria including effectiveness have been utilised (Commonwealth of Australia 2011). As well, against the attacks from a vocal and influential anti-aid lobby, aid has been evaluated favourably in terms of whether it "really works" (Riddell 2014). The sub-text of all assessments, while rarely if ever stated, is whether aid advances capitalism, the accumulation of capital in the hands of a particular class, and meets particular welfare criteria.