Marley Jennings

Professor Adams
Views from the Third World
September 14, 2013
Reaction 5: Bottom Billion Sections 4 & 5
In Section 4, Collier addresses certain instruments that can be used to converge
the bottom billion with the rest of the world. He mentions aid, military intervention, laws
and charters, and new trade policy. In Section 5, Collier goes over which instrument (or
combination of instruments) he thinks will work best with each trap. Collier claims that
the bottom billion is both awful for those who live in it and dangerous for those who live
next to it. Therefore, it is in the best interests of the entire world to improve the
conditions of the bottom billion. Colliers sections on aid stuck most with me.
Collier takes a questioning, almost cynical, view on aid as he claims, Aid alone
is really unlikely, in my view, to be able to address the problems of the bottom
billion(pg. 100). Aid splits the right and the left straight down the middle with the left
thinking of it as payments for colonialism and the right as some sort of welfare. The idea
of aid has become so highly politicized that it is almost not useful anymore, in the way it
is being administered today. According to Collier, there is no doubt that aid speeds up
growth, but it is definitely more effective in countries with better governance and
policies. This is why theres no wonder Collier says we cant rely on aid to fix problems
because so many of the bottom billion countries lack good governance and policies.
Collier says some researchers actually think aid may cause rebellion and coups
because it makes the state more valuable. He believes it has no direct effect on the risk of

civil war, but it does, indeed, make coups more likely. This is most likely because civil
wars last much longer than coups. Coups are quick and when they are over, the money is
just there for the taking. Collier claims aid is extremely important in post-conflict
situations, even if just for the security benefits. In these cases, aid actually raises the
growth rate. When dealing with the natural resources trap, aid is basically ineffective. The
wealth from the resources has already done everything that aid could possibly do, which
is usually not a lot in these countries.
Collier thinks that when dealing with the trap of being landlocked, we need to
realize that aid is not given for a quick stimulus of development but rather to increase
standard of living. There is no fast track for these countries, but aid needs to be spent on
improving their links to the coast, which will help these countries, even if slowly. Finally,
Collier ends his section on aid with the notion that countries with bad governance need
the most additional aid. It needs to be used as an incentive not to shift power from
governments to donors but to shift power from governments to their own citizens (pg.
110). I think putting power in the hands of people is key because they often have better
interests than top government officials in the bottom billion. Finally, Collier argues, aid
needs to come in the form of technical assistance. This way it can have lasting, instead of
short-term, effects on the country.

Works Cited
Collier, Paul. "Part 4: The Instruments & Part 5: The Struggle for the Bottom
Billion. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are failing and What Can Be
Done about It. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.