Corruption

From Iran in 1953 to Congo in 1961, outsiders repeatedly decided they knew best. Today, hundreds of billions still flow through a global aid system that claims to reduce poverty while preserving the same power imbalance. This episode asks whether the aid industrial complex benefits the Global South or mainly sustains itself.

In 1983 Somalia, Michael Brown discovered systematic aid fraud that nearly got him killed. That experience taught him how oversight collapse happens and why the same failures repeat in domestic welfare systems and international aid.