This unconventional book addresses the imbalance of power between countries that give and receive funds for international financial development, with particular attention to the outcomes and impacts of this imbalance on recipient countries. It provides an in-depth analysis of the perceptions that population segments of recipient countries have of the power plays inherent in giving and receiving financial assistance, delving deep into the factors that affect these perceptions to examine how and why developed countries wield power over countries receiving financial assistance. While the text focuses primarily on African countries, it also addresses the broader power imbalance between developed countries in the global north and developing countries in the global south. It also examines perceptions of development assistance and power imbalance between the global south in general and the BRICS countries which provide assistance to the global south in particular. This book is an ideal tool for those studying the socioeconomic impacts of international financial assistance to developing countries.

Using the Moyen Bani Programme as an example, External Assistance or External Interference gives an analysis of a grassroots conflict which, not foreseen at project design, lasted six years in Mali. This book provides the historical, economic, and political backgrounds that influenced the design and the conflict resolution. Concepts of perception, emotion, and identity explain the frames of the actors in the conflict. Notions including static and dynamic frames are used to explain their positions at different times during the conflict resolution. It explores the need of protagonists in rural conflicts to increase the political and economic resources they possess to achieve their goals. This need brought the intervention into the conflict of an international NGO. The book examines the "whys" and "wherefores" of the intervention by the NGO. The effects of the conflict on the project results are examined. The book contributes to the development of paradigms for conflict resolution as well as for project planning and analysis.