The authors trace the foreign aid regimes of Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany through the various aid ‘fashions’ of the Cold War period, from the 1950s to the 1990s. The case studies, based on public and private historical archives, illustrate issues of aid governance in the recipient countries of Africa, India and the Middle East. The 16 contributions by political scientists, historians and economists address the systemic problems of aid, such as donor-recipient cooperation and bureaucracy; self-sustainability and entrepreneurship. Their contributions shed some light on the question of why inefficiencies in administering aid continue to persist. The first volume is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the aid policies of the Northern European states in an international perspective; while the second investigates issues of national priorities and individual actors in greater detail.The second volume consists of individual case studies organized in two parts; «The ‘Developmental State’ Revisited» and «Donor meets Recipient. Different Agendas», a closer look at the interaction of the two parties in the aid relationship.