Aide au développement : six décennies de trop dits et de non dits

Since six decades alternate arguments which are favourable, or which are hostile to the development aid. Since the spreading of the term “development”, they join the political, ideological and economic debates of every period. The article shows how the term “aid” strangely resisted to the wear of time and of the ideas. The list of countries privileged by the aid, its contents and thus its system of justification considerably evolved. Also, connections within the aid between public contributions and private contributions, technical support, contributions in kind and financial contributions, bound bilateral assistance and multilateral assistance, etc. were manifestly transformed. However, whatever are the logics of justification of these supports, whatever is the nature of the critics, whatever is the report of a certain inefficiency to allow a growth of the countries, the term of a set of practices under the common expression of “development aid” continued in connection with the rise of the weight of the public and private institutions which have it the responsibility