The Dark Side of Humanity, Part III

Abstract

Chapter 7 argues that the case for aiding the needy (foreign aid) may depend partly on whether the needy are the victims of misfortune or social injustice. It notes that aid efforts may benefit the perpetrators of grave social injustices, incentivizing such injustices. It argues that the line between man-made and natural disasters is often blurry, and that aid efforts may benefit corrupt leaders whose policies contribute to hybrid natural/man-made disasters, thus encouraging such disastrous policies. These issues—related to the problems of perverse incentives, complicity, and dirty hands—raise both consequentialist and deontological concerns about aid efforts that support corrupt regimes, weakening the case for learning to live with external corruption to aid the needy. Chapter 7 also explores the chilling case of Goma, where aid aimed at relieving the Rwandan genocide went tragically awry; reminding us that the book’s considerations have real-world manifestations of great normative significance.