Professor David Sogge

International Development Studies, Economics of Foreign Aid

Professor David Sogge works as an independent scholar based in Amsterdam, where he is affiliated with the Transnational Institute. David works as an independent researcher and writer. A former member of TNI’s Board (2004-2014) and a former associate of the Norwegian think-tank NOREF, he serves as a guest lecturer in development studies at the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Brussels, as well as at academic encounters elsewhere, particularly in Brazil. He currently focuses on public control over transnational flows affecting societies on the global periphery. Professional activities since 1970 provided a basis for books and articles on the politics of foreign aid, and on Africa, particularly Angola and South Africa. Apart from African politics and civil society studies, foreign aid has been a particular focus, with chapters appearing in the Introduction to International Development Studies (Oxford University Press), The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Modern World, and the Handbook on the Economics of Foreign Aid. Among his books on foreign aid are Compassion and Calculation. The Business of Private Foreign Aid, “Mozambique: Perspectives on Aid and the Civil Sector”, and “Give and Take. What’s the Matter with Foreign Aid”. Evaluative research assignments have taken him to Vietnam, Eastern Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union. He writes for OpenDemocracy and many other publications. Further observations on aid appear in his book ‘Give and Take. What’s the Matter with Foreign Aid’ and in articles such as ‘Donors Helping Themselves.’ Trained at Harvard, David earned his graduate degrees from Princeton and the Institute of Social Studies – ISS in The Hague from Erasmus University in Rotterdam.