Jane Hutchison is Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies and a Fellow of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University, Australia. Her research interests include the politics of labour and urban land reform in the Philippines, and she was an Oxfam Australia Board member from 2004 to 2014.

Wil Hout is Professor of Governance and International Political Economy at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His research interests relate to international relations, the politics of development, international development assistance and issues of ('good') governance. He is co-editor of European Political Science Review.

Caroline Hughes is Professor of Conflict Resolution and Peace at Bradford University, UK. She was Director of the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, and has held other posts in the United Kingdom, Australia and Cambodia. She researches the politics of international post-conflict intervention and of aid and development, particularly in Cambodia and Timor-Leste.

Richard Robison is Emeritus Professor in the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University, Australia. His previous positions include Director of the Asia Research Centre, and Professor of Political Economy at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. His areas of research include the political economy of oligarchy and the state in developing countries and the ideology and practice of neo-liberalism.

1. Introduction PART I: DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES AND THE REALITY OF POLITICS 2. Realities of Political Economy: The Elephant in the Room 3. Development Agencies and the Political Economy Turn 4. Development as Collective Action Problems PART II: APPLYING STRUCTURAL POLITICAL ECONOMY 5. Understanding the Development Problem 6. Analysing Reform and Reformers 7. Working Politically: Understanding Alliances 8. Conclusion: The Road to Nowhere?

Adopting a distinctive structural political economy approach, this book uniquely explains the blind spots of alternative political economy approaches to international aid, and presents an original framework for evaluating likely reformers' strength of commitment and potential alliances with donors.