"Pellicciari gives a surprisingly different approach to the understanding of the Aid programmes failure that is often being neglected. A great contribution to the understanding of Aid policies in all its phases: from programming to implementation and evaluation. I truly enjoyed reading it."
Professor Fabio Roversi Monaco, Rector of the University of Bologna, Italy (1985-2000)
"Igor Pellicciari offers a timely and insightful 'realist' analysis of foreign aid. He brings to the topic powerful analytical tools, a keen historical eye and personal knowledge of the world of foreign aid. The result is a compelling study of a key dimension of international relations today."
Professor Federico Varese, Head of
the Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, UK
"Fascinating insight of International Relations channeled through State funded Aid. The book successfully redefines Aid within the wider framework of foreign policy, at bilateral and multilateral level."
Luca Beccari,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of San Marino"Modern foreign policy has been often implemented on the ground either by trade or aid and sometimes by a combination of the two. While trade has for long been recognized as a policy, and hence been studied and criticized, foreign aid has more often than not lived a separate life whose only focus was eventually its limited amount. Pellicciari's book closes this gap and recognizes of foreign aid not only the merit of being a policy but above all the privilege to be analyzed in critical terms. This recognition and this book were long overdue."
Ambassador Dr. Antonio Parenti,
Head of the European Commission's Representation in Italy"Professor Igor Pellicciari breaks new ground with his examination of the role that international aid plays in geopolitics. His analysis of Russia's transformation from recipient of international aid in the early post-Soviet period, to modern Russia's self-defined role as a 'Power Politics Donor' provides valuable insights into the roots of Vladimir Putin's foreign policy. This is a broad history of foreign aid, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the COVID-19 pandemic, a welcome study of what nations get from giving."
Professor Jill Dougherty,
Georgetown University, USA"Throughout his more than two decades long experience in Aid programmes, Pellicciari has gathered a crosscutting knowledge on Aid policies that he represents in this captivating book. Excellent insight into Aid programmes reality and shortcomings of Aid programmes implementation in crisis scenarios from post-communism to the COVID-19 pandemic."
Dr. Sandro Gozi,
Italian Minister for European Affairs (2014-2018)"This book makes a fundamental contribution to our understanding of the role aid plays in foreign policy and is likely to become a classic for those who will follow the new approach that it puts forward to studying this topic. It is certain to cause much discussion outside of academia, and directly in the professional sectors that deal with State funded Aid delivery. Among donors, who are always reluctant to talk about their own interests. And among recipients, unaware (or pretending to be unaware) of the fact that taking the carrot today precludes giving up pieces of sovereignty tomorrow."
Professor Sergej Karaganov,
Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, Higher School of Economics, Russian Federation (2006-2021)"This is a superb study on the unstoppable rise of Aid as a foreign policy tool, a fundamental geopolitical issue in today's world. By framing the dimensions of Aid policies in recent history and in different contexts, Professor Igor Pellicciari makes the case for a comprehensive approach to a decisive area of competition between the relevant powers. In particular, his interpretation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the foreign policies of Russia, China, America and other major geopolitical players is a work of profound scholarship."
Professor Lucio Caracciolo,
Editor in Chief, LIMES Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica
"This contribution is the result of a rare maturity achieved both in the field of research and professional activity in the field. The brilliant and lucid analysis of State Funded Aid condenses the author's deep academic experience together with his recognized diplomatic skills and technical expertise in institution building."
Dr. Nicola Renzi,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of San Marino (2016-2020)"The book successfully and convincingly marks the birth of a new theoretical and practical approach to the historiographic research of relations between sovereign states through aid interventions, observed as primary foreign policy choices since the end of World War II."
Professor Fulvio Cammarano,
University of Bologna, Italy; Chair of the Italian Society of Contemporary History (SISSCO) (2015-2019)"The book has the great merit of involving in the reading even those who are not experts in the field of international relations and foreign policy. Dealing in a highly original way with a much-debated but little-studied subject such as State Funded Aid, it succeeds not only in providing in a structured form much little-known information but also in providing keys to a clear and convincing understanding. A highly recommended reading."
Ambassador Carlo Natale,
Deputy Director, European Security and Defense College, Belgium"Pellicciari's monography explores nature and impact of Aid beyond the traditional boundaries established by literature, also on the basis of well described cases. A stimulating redefinition of the paradigm particularly useful in times of COVID-19, confirming how much Aid - including health one - is an offshoot of foreign policy that can be interpreted on the basis of the balance of power between States."
Ambassador Andrea Silvestri,
Ambassador of Italy to North Macedonia"The pragmatic and at the same time conceptual approach, the analytical rigor based on a precise historical and casuistic reconstruction both make this pioneering text unique and indispensable for the understanding of a factor that has become essential in contemporary international relations, namely external aid and its various modalities.
His conclusions, clear, honest and disenchanted, from now on will be of extreme importance not only for analysts who want to analyze and deepen this topic but also and above all for international political élites, officials and operators to act on the ground, after for decades they have been called upon to commit funds and money applying abstract and confused recipes, with the results that we all have had under our eyes and that only Igor Pellicciari has been able to describe and to define as the failure not only of a sectoral policy but of an essential aspect of foreign policy."
Ambassador Michael Giffoni,
Head of Western Balkans Task Force, Policy Unit of the EU Council (2004-2008)"The book offers an innovative new conceptual paradigm for framing State Aid programmes. Pellicciari's insight that Aid benefits more to those who give it than to those who receive it, opens up a new field of research of Aid related phenomena."
Professor Vilberto Stocchi,
Rector of the University of Urbino, Italy (2014-2020)"The book points to the problems of Aid programmes and offers perspectives of various scenarios. Comparison of Russia and Bosnia as two different cases reveals the opposite possibilities of the same Aid agenda."
Professor Yuri Sayamov,
Chairholder, UNESCO Chair on Global Problems"Pellicciari, a scholar, a diplomat and international officer engaged in mainstreaming and organizing international aid is an excellent and extremely rare combination of practitioner and academic.
The author strongly builds his argumentation over the increasing importance of aid in international politics and studies its rising importance in bilateral and multilateral relations.
Brave argumentation on how aid is a two-way relation with strong political connotations make this book probably new unavoidable literature on foreign aid that will change the way we understand this dimension of international relations."
Dr. Slobodan Jankovic,
Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade, Serbia"Empathy, the willingness to help another person or a group, is a very human quality. In contemporary politics, this quality is institutionalized as international aid. Igor Pellicciari's book is about how the best human qualities are used by political systems and what-sometimes unexpected-results this leads to."
Dr. Mikhail Minakov,
Editor in Chief, The Ideology and Politics Journal
"Igor Pellicciari has written an in-depth and well-documented study which shows that aid is primarily an instrument of geo-political power politics. The book argues this in a masterly way with a pleasing prose that urges the reader to evaluate aid policy in relation to foreign policy, focusing more on the political motivation of the Donors than on the needs of the Recipients."
Stefania Tucci,
Author, Longitude, The Italian Monthly on World Affairs
"Professor Pellicciari possesses an impressive ability to recognise the complexity of the changing world and to rationalize contemporary challenges. The awe-inspiring temporal scope, from the Second World War to the COVID war, provides a vast contextual platform. This enables the author to offer a profound analysis of the nature and impact of foreign aid, an instrument that plays an immeasurable role in the enforcement of foreign policy goals and the global projection of power. A very timely book."
Professor Svetozar Rajak,
London School of Economics, UK"This book makes a very convincing argument about the importance of observing international aid policies between States in order to fully understand the history of international relations. By skillfully integrating innovative theoretical insights and the close scrutiny of case studies, Pellicciari provides us with a thorough study of international aid policies that will surely become essential reading on this topic, while demonstrating how important history is, to gain a deeper and more sophisticated comprehension of our present."
Professor Giovanni Orsina,
Dean, LUISS School of Government, Italy"Igor Pellicciari belongs to a generation of students, activists and then academics and experts in the field of international cooperation, aid and 'reconciliation building' who lived at the turn of the century and saw before their eyes the collapse of the balanced political system generated by the Yalta agreements after the Second World War. For this reason, his experience in the field of aid and foreign policy makes his work an original and valuable scholarly activity, combining empirical data with a rigorous theoretical approach. The result is this valuable handbook on the history and politics of aid from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the shocking experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. The author has been able to tune in to the issues and problems of our time, without allowing himself to be overwhelmed by entrenched and encrusted visions. For this we thank him."
Vittorio "Bobo" Craxi,
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy (2006-2008)"The book comprehensively describes international aid and its impact on actors in international relations. It effectively shows how important it is to study and research the development paths of the various related policies, their evolution, and above all the utilitarian motivations of the actors involved. With a holistic and dialectical approach, the author provides readers with a clear and engaging insight into the impact of international aid on sovereign states, foreign policy and diplomacy."
Dr. Vesna Skare Ozbolt,
Minister of Justice of Croatia (2003-2006)"A delightful book full of important information and conclusions for those who want to better understand how diplomacy works through Foreign Aid. Professor Pellicciari takes readers on a dark, realistic but yet exciting journey into the dangerous world of Aid Wars and Donors Competition. It is a must-read for anyone who considers themselves a diplomat, a political actor or a scholar of Aid and Foreign Affairs."
Joaquim Alberto Chissano,
President of the African Union (2003-2004) and President of the Republic of Mozambique (1986-2005)
