Ideology at the Water’s Edge: Explaining Variation in Public Support for Foreign Aid

Abstract

To explain variation in foreign aid levels and attitudes in donor countries, past research emphasizes the importance of values related to the welfare state such as economic ideology. Scholars argue that liberals support redistribution at home in the form of a strong welfare state and redistribution abroad in the form of foreign aid. Yet, the conditions under which values related to domestic politics translate to issues of foreign policy remain undertheorized. I argue that economic ideology interacts with foreign policy orientation – individuals’ placement along the internationalist/isolationist spectrum – to shape foreign aid attitudes and outcomes. Using original data from surveys fielded in the U.S., UK, and Norway, as well as data on foreign aid spending levels, I show that the relationship between ideology and foreign aid is conditional on foreign policy orientation. The effect is driven by isolationist liberals whose support for redistribution stops at the water’s edge.