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1.1 Egypt's Background

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1.1 Egypt's Background THE AID TRIANGLEt Developing Countries, Aid Organizations, Consultants by GLYNTON JAMES LE ROUX B.Arch. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. (1968) SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREES OF MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE IN ADVANCED STUDIES AND MASTER OF CITY PLANNING AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY FEBRUARY 1980 C Glynton J. Le Roux Signature of Author....... DeparL!tft rban Studies and Planning, Department of Architecture, February 1980 Certified Paulo Ceccarelli, Thesis Supervisor Accepted by... ... ... .. ....... ep......... ... ..UJulian Beifb r , Chairman , Department Committee Accepted by.......... ........ ee... Langley Keyes, Chairman, Department "t Committee MASSACHUSETTS INSTiTU TE OF TECHNOLOGY AUG 2 0 1980 LIBRARIES 0961IN11kf'IS([1)'W T' SJA1LT TJ 11lMOL WOJNZMI (II 'SlDUf10 Ikl(YfL irLM 1 W(V["(TI EEL 1 AUBSTRlACTf THE AID TRIANGLE by G. J. LeRoux Submitted to the Department of Architecture and the Depart- ment of Urban Studies and Planning February 1980 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degrees of Master of Architecture in Advanced Studies and Master of City Plan- ning. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Western development aid to the Third World has as one of its main.functions dependency building of the Third World on the West. The purpose of aid is to structure political and economic advantages for the West's influence and expan- sion over the Third World. The mechanisms used for structur- ing this dependency are economic ties and credit facilities which bind the aid receiving country to the donor. It is common in aid agreements to include a component involving technical assistance which reinforces dependency by making use of Western development theory and Western technology transfer. The process raises the question of the usefulness and relevance of the consultant's work to the aid receiving country. In this thesis, within the framework described above, three main objectives have been reached. 1. By examining the historical development of Egypt and comparing it to a model structured around dependency and its origins and the role debt plays in this de- pendency, it has been determined that Egypt follows a typical pattern, somewhat exagerated because of its strategic importance to the West. Egypt is becoming more reliant on the West and credit facilities bind it to the West for the forseeable future. 2 2. By studying a U.S.A.I.D. program being carried out in Egypt using M.I.T. as consultant it is argued that this program reinforces the structuring of Egypt's dependency on the U.S.A. However, problem areas within the pro- gram raise the question of the full usefulness of the program to Egypt. 3. It is in fact the relationships between the three main actors; donor, aid receiver and consultant, with their varying interests and goals, differences of opinion, some basic contradictions and a strong need for com- promise; that distract the product from its full use- fulness. I have called this the Aid Triangle. The process in Egypt has prepared her for a major role in the Middle East, supportive of the West's interests there. 3 AiNWLED)Gli1IENT1VS I take this opportunity of thanking all who assisted me in preparing this document and especially the following people: Barbara Barlow, who has battled with my handwriting and was still able to complete all the typing. Paul Ceccarelli, for his assistance and advice with respect to content. Phil Clay, who assisted me in structuing the questionnaire. Tunney Lee, for his valuable advice in setting out the direction the thesis has taken. Francesca LeRoux, for her patience and support at home. Tony Mallows, for his assistance in graphics and production. Lisa Peattie, who helped me with the content of the document and especially the chapter dealing with the M.I.T./C.U. pro- gram in Egypt. 4 CONTENTS ABSTRACT..........................................----1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................... 3 DIAGRAMS............................................... 6 INTRODUCTION 7 A. Thesis Outline and Structure.................... 7 B. A Personal Interest in Aid...................... 13 C. The Project......................................16 CHAPTER ONE: AID IN EGYPT 23 1.1 Egypt's Background.............................. 26 1.1.1 Egypt's History................................. 28 1.2 Egypt and the Model............................. 52 1.2.1 History of Aid.................................. 53 1.2.2 Dependency in the Third World................... 69 1.2.3 The Helping Hand, A Radical View................ 82 CHAPTER TWO: THE CONSULTANT IN AID 90 2.1 The M.I.T./C.U. Program......................... 92 2.1.1 The Housing and Construction Project within the M.I.T./C.U. Program...............100.............. 2.1.2 Problem Areas within the Overall Program Area... 107 2.1.3 Problem Areas within the Housing and Construction Project...........................................................116 2.2 The Alternative Approach to Housing..............125 2.2.1 The U.S.A.I.D. for Housing and Community Upgrad- ing for Low Income Egyptians.................... 128 2.3 The Efficiency and Usefulness of Consultants.... 133 2.3.1 The Need for the Consultant.....................133 2.3.2 The Consultant's Perspective....................135 2.3.3 The Need for Teams.............................. 142 2.3.4 The Structural Differences of Receiving Coun- tries.......................... ................. 145 2.4 An Overview...................................... 149 5 CHAPTER THREE: THE AID TRIANGLE 153 3,1 The Debt Trap and Dependency....... 154 3. 1 The Macro Scale.................... 154 3.1.2 Aid Programs....................... 157 3.2 The Triangle. .. .. ... .. ... .. ... ... .. 157 3.3 Egypt and the Future............... 177 3.3.1 The Repercussions.................. 181 CHAPTER FOUR: EPILOGUE 184 4.1 The Changing World................. 185 4.2 The Environmental Planner and Aid.. 190 APPENDICES 197 APPENDIX 'A' M.I.T./C.U. Program Outline...... 199 APPENDIX 'B' History of Egypt................. 201 APPENDIX 'C' Interviews....................... 208 APPENDIX 'D' Early Aid Triangle Diagrams...... 219 APPENDIX I'E' f Background to Well-Known Donors.. 222 ABBREVIATIONS.......................................... 250 BIBLIOGRAPHY..... ....................................... 252 6 D)IAGRMS Diagram One: Location of New Towns in Egypt........... 22 Diagram Two: Egypt in the Middle East............... 24 Diagram Three: Egypt (Geographical)................... 27 Diagram Four: Egypt's Trade and Debt................... 76 Diagram Five: M.I.T./C.U. Program....................... 96 Diagram Six: Egypt Population Distribution............. 99 7 A.THESIS4 OIJTLINE ANI) STriUC RE By critically examining an aid program with respect to the role of the consultant and the general set of conditions 8 existing in the aid receiving country a fuller understanding of the problems and goals of aid is achieved. Development aid to the Third World involves more than a mutually bene- ficial relationship between the West and the developing nations. It is argued that by constructing dependencies of the developing world on the West a relationship is structur- ed in favor of the West's continued expansion and gives it both political influence and economic advantages over the Third World. The project chosen and the receiving country are to be examined against a model based on the writings of G. Kay (1975), C. Payer (1974), J. White (1974), and W.G. Zeylstra (1975) with support from various sources as in- dicated in the text. As a separate issue but running con- currently within the sphere of the above statement, the product and process of consultants in aid in relationships to the quality and usefulness of their work to the Third World is also examined. By combining the two areas examin- ed, an aid triangle is formed involving the three main actors, the donor organization, the receiving country and the consultant and it is argued that in many cases it is the differences of goals and interests of each of these 9 actors that often result in poor products and questionable usefulness of this work to the Third World. It is under- stood that the subject of foreign aid is an extremely broad one, often unclear where it leaves off and other issues over- lap, that it is loosely defined as dealing with development of Third World nations and/or regions, and that, like foreign policy it can shift and change its purpose over time. It is therefore important to state that military aid is not included in the scope of this document and that while the aid donor is sometimes discussed in general terms specific reference is placed on the U.S. Agency for Inter- national Development (U.S.A.I.D.). The difficult task of defining a developing country has not been attempted. The words "developing country" describe the relationship of one country to another, or to the world as a whole. It is a continuum, changing over time, between the two poles, under- developed and over-developed. This document assumes that if a country is receiving aid, it has been defined by the donor in this act as a developing country. The donor has decided a country is in need of aid in the donors terms. 1(f The Process The subject of aid is complex and sometimes vague and in the readings I have found many contradictory opinions and stands, usually backed by statistics or "proofs." It therefore became obvious that I required (a) a model to test programs against and (b) a particular program to test. The model has been structured
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