The International Development Assistance Regime: From Poverty Reduction to the SDGs.

This paper investigates what kind of international development assistance regime was in place before it was superseded by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper identifies that regime as one of "poverty reduction," which was maintained by soft laws, peer pressure and peer reviews, and institutionalization by the major donors. It finds that the "poverty reduction regime" was internationally agreed-upon and established, and had highest acceptance among certain Sub-Saharan African, South and Southeast Asian, and Central and South American low-income, high-aid dependency countries. Relatedly, there was considerable overlap of these recipients with the Nordic Plus donor group's focus countries. However, it was found that among countries with a high degree of affiliation with the regime, actual results were low compared to less-receptive countries. Finally, this paper suggests that in order to consider the establishment of an appropriate international development assistance system in the SDG era, and to promote the development of the recipients concerned, it is necessary to develop measures to maximize the roles of various actors and to build a platform where various actors can effectively cooperate together, in the same way that "the Paris declaration on aid effectiveness" played its role in the "Poverty Reduction Regime". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]