Britain's International Development Policies A History of DFID and Overseas Aid

Barrie Ireton tells the unique history of Britain's international development efforts from colonial times to the present day set in a global context. He brings together original research material as well as his personal knowledge over a 40 year career in government. He argues that the Department, led by successive Ministers, continued to pursue its basic mission of poverty reduction in the poorest countries. He also acknowledges important deviations from this trend, particularly during the 1980s when the Aid and Trade Provision became an aggressive use of aid to win export orders at the behest of the interventionist Department of Trade and Industry under an otherwise not interventionist conservative government.

Barrie Ireton is Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, and former Director-General of the Department of International Development, UK.

1. Introduction
2. Britain's Colonial Development Effort
3. The Creation of the Department: from Colonial to Overseas Development
4. The Department's Mission: 1964-2013
5. Development Policies
6. Natural and Manmade Disasters: the Department's Response
7. Aid Channels
8. Associated Bodies
9. Commercial Issues: The Tying of Aid and the Aid and Trade Provision
10. Aid Volume
11. The Department: Managing Itself
12. Development Impact