Foreign aid and statehood in Africa

Has foreign aid destroyed state institutions in Africa? African states depe nd on development assistance to conduct basic government operations, yet fe w of these states are well governed or effective at providing public goods. The two trends, mounting foreign aid and static or diminishing state perfo rmance, raise an obvious question: Is aid dependency contributing to misrul e and state failure in Africa? Many critics argue the two phenomena are rel ated. I find they are not. My analysis fails to show a negative association between aid receipts and two measures of democracy and economic freedom. I nstead, the evidence is consistent with a small, positive relationship betw een aid and these indicators of state performance. Since the international community seems bent on reducing foreign aid, an important issue is how Afr ican states can maintain and improve their performance with less foreign as sistance.