This path-breaking study in political economy scrutinizes the theory and practice of conditionality, drawing chiefly on the experiences of twenty-one developing countries. The fatal weakness of conditionality, the book concludes, is that donors are unwilling or unable to withhold aid from governments which renege on policy promises. Deep-rooted factors stand in the way of making conditionality more effective, reliance on which has hence wasted much aid. The book therefore presents ideas from improving donor-recipient relationships in ways which do not rely on an imagined financial leverage.