Donor Coordination of Economic Assistance to Eastern Europe

A major restriction to Western aid efforts has been a lack of coordination. The study on hand explores into the determinants of successful cooperation between bi- and multilateral donor agencies at the example of Western aid to Eastern Europe in the period from 1990 to 1996. In raising the assumption that networking between international organizations cannot be stimulated by appealing to norm-oriented behavior but is contingent upon the existence of common interests, the idealist view of international relations is seriously challenged. Comparing different assistance sectors - energy, telecoms, mass privatization, agriculture, statistics, central banking, environment and education - it is shown that donor coordination is a form of collective action initiated by donors in response to sectoral market failure which is perceived as significant because it threatens the non-attainment of basic goals or inflicts own projects with high costs or risks.