International Aid Regime Research Articles

Reshaping Power Relations Within the International Aid Regime: The Role of the People’s Republic of China and Africa

ABSTRACT International aid is one of the main issues within the Liberal International Order (LIO) in Africa, where traditional donors have held significant influence since the Second World War (WWII). The power dynamics within the aid regime, which have been characterised by asymmetry in both guiding standards and administering organisations, have started to undergo disruption in recent decades. The relationship between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the potential to reshape the institutional arrangements of the international aid regime in the current global system. Beijing's increased financial presence in SSA, particularly its involvement in debt and financial dependency, challenges the hegemony of traditional donors who have historically employed Africa's debt and aid dependency as tools of asymmetric power. Both African governments and the PRC advocate for deep reforms of the current regime by defending favoured institutional arrangements, rejecting those deemed unfavourable and establishing new ones to substantially shift power dynamics within the international aid regime.

WHY GLOBAL GOVERNANCE MATTERS FOR AFRICA: CRISES, LESSONS AND SETTING THE POLITICAL AGENDA FOR POST-WESTERN ORDER

Using Africa’s experience during the 2008 global financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic, this study explores how the peripheral positions of Africa in global governance has disproportionately exposed the continent to inordinate impacts of global crises and argues for an increased role for Africa in global governance. A common Africa position premised on the AU is advanced as capable of providing the continent with adequate impetus to shape global affairs by espousing unified position of Africa in multilateral platforms. This study reiterates that developing such an expanded role that can shape global responses to issues such as reforms in the UNSC, international aid regime, climate change, debt management, global trade, and global economic governance, the continent should adopt common position and leverage its continental frameworks such as AfCFTA and the AfDB to unlock its economic capacity which is the foundation upon which contemporary political influence in global affairs is premised.

Why Are Developed Countries Giving Aid to India?

India is the recipient of substantial aid flows but also a nuclear-armed power and an emerging donor. Why have developed countries provided aid to one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world? Answering this question requires understanding the underlying determinants of these aid flows. Using data from 1960 to 2015, the domestic conditions of India and the external conditions of donors are empirically explored with time-series analysis and panel-data analysis. We find that during the Cold War India received more foreign aid from donors with a larger volume of trade and arms transfers, but from 2000 to 2015 the effect of arms transfers declined while countries with high trade volumes continued to give more aid. Although these findings broadly support the realist interpretation of aid, we conclude that post–Cold War structural shifts in the international aid regime and defense industries need to be considered by future researchers.

The Rise of Asian Aid Donors: Recipient-to-Donor Transition and Implications for International Aid Regime

The aims of this article are twofold. First, from a historical perspective, it examines the recipient-to-donor transition of five Asian aid donors, namely Japan, Korea, China, India, and Thailand. Specifically, it examines the evolution of their foreign aid programs and practices. Second, it analyzes the effects of Asian aid donors on the international aid regime. We argue that the mix of economic and security goals, which motivated Asian donors to develop their initial economic cooperation programs, have persisted over time. This explains why Asian aid donors have allotted a disproportionate share of their assistance to neighboring countries and their use of foreign aid as a key tool of their commercial and diplomatic policies. Moreover, we contend that the rise and experience of Asian aid donors have created a new dynamic to donor–recipient partnerships and development cooperation like new approaches and modalities. Key findings of this study add to the growing literature on emerging donors and aid effectiveness debate.

The Chinese South-South development cooperation: an assessment of its structural transformation

This paper aims to analyze the Chinese cooperation with developing countries, its purposes, shapes and intentions in order to explore the peculiar characteristics of Chinese SSC. This work seeks to analyze whether the cooperation carried out by China with countries of the Global South fits the principles of South-South cooperation and if and how China is modifying the international aid regime.

‘Fighters without guns’: humanitarianism and military action in the aftermath of the Second World War

This paper makes a contribution to the debate about the interplay between military action and humanitarian aid. It takes on the case study of post-World War Two Europe and in particular the activity carried out by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), which offers a useful key for highlighting the entanglements between relief and reconstruction projects. It is from this perspective that the interaction between humanitarianism and military undertakings also acquires a special meaning, which recalls both the development of the international aid regime and the post-war history of Western countries. The matter will be addressed from two points of view. First to be analysed is the set of agreements stipulated by UNRRA and military authorities, for the zones under Allied administration after the liberation, but also with respect to specific areas of intervention, like the Displaced Persons Operations. The terms of the official agreements allow the delineation of the tasks actually assigned to the agency by the United Nations and the role of control and protection reserved for military organizations. Based on the formal agreements, it is already possible to reconstruct a vision of relief understood as the result of the inextricably linked action of military and humanitarian actors. Next, the interplay between different interpretations of activities to help civilians affected by the war will be examined. This section will focus on the personnel deployed by UNRRA, on their origins, and on duties they are called on to fulfil. People with extensive experience in the welfare sector were a substantial part of the personnel, but a significant number of UNRRA employees came from military ranks. This essay, therefore, has a twofold objective. It analyses the normative and institutional frame that shaped relief work in Liberated Europe. At the same time, it aims to uncover competition and cooperation between military and humanitarian actors in the field. The aim is to highlight how the co-construction of the aid operations between military and civilian personnel that occurred during the second post-war period followed a series of complex, nonlinear paths that conditioned the development of the humanitarian regime from within.

Book Review: Juichi Inada, The International Aid Regime: The Dynamics of Evolution of Institutions and Norms (in Japanese)

Book Review: Juichi Inada, <i>The International Aid Regime: The Dynamics of Evolution of Institutions and Norms</i> (in Japanese)

Development aid as a global public good – a case study

This study introduces a new concept to the analysis of development aid. Aid is regarded as a global public good where donors benefit from the advantages of aid without rivalry and exludability. The public-goodnature of aid is a logical explanation for the deficiencies of the international aid regime, especially the suboptimal supply of aid and the free-riding of donors. The concept of aid as a public good raises the question whether there are any actors who could produce this global public good. The study analyses whether nongovernmental organizations are able to fill this gap in the international aid regime. The model is introduced through a case study: aid in Afghanistan in general, and the activities of the NGO Hungarian Baptist Aid in the country. Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: F590, H410

The Anatomy of China's Influence on the International Development Finance System

The entry of China as an emerging economic power into the development financing scene has raised the question of its impact on international aid architecture. The paper argues that this question cannot be fully understood unless we realize that the origin and on-going evolution of the current rules in international aid regime represent a process of political contestation both on the international level and on the domestic level. They are the outcome of conscious aid policy coordination among DAC donors to avoid crass competition and promote burden sharing. However, undue coordination dominated by hegemonic ideas of what is best aid practice may stifle alternative notions of what development is and how official flows can promote the development. After uncovering the political dynamics of existing rules and standards, the author collected first-hand data through in-depth interview in Beijing to discover that China has no incentives to participate in the current DAC dominated aid policy coordination due to domestic and international political considerations. Furthermore, China has taken a pragmatic approach to international standards and rules on development assistance. On the one hand, China is willing to draw lessons from the international practices to reform its domestic aid governance structure. On the other hand, China has deliberately distinguished itself from the DAC approach by criticizing the appropriateness of the current standards and rules and highlighting its distinctive 'South-South Cooperation' approach. In addition, the author took a step further to uncover how domestic bureaucratic politics creates ambiguous attitude towards international rules due to the vested bureaucratic interests. It concludes that China has enhanced the momentum of creating a space for alternative development ideas and policy options, although such impact is not an outcome of China's conscious efforts but an unintentional impact due to the competition China brings to DAC donors and the alternatives it provides to recipient countries.

Neoliberalism is dead, long live neoliberalism? Neostructuralism and the international aid regime of the 2000s

In the 2000s a new aid regime evolved. This promised to move beyond the former neoliberal approach in a number of ways. It would involve greater consultation between donors and recipients, shift the focus from economic growth to broader factors, including poverty, and hand back the responsibility for this to the nation-state. This approach bears strong resemblance to the rise of neostructuralism, a development paradigm that has become highly influential in Latin America. In this article we trace the shifts in the aid regime and ask to what extent the contemporary regime can be defined a postneoliberal paradigm.

THE 'INVISIBLE' NGO: US EVANGELICAL MISSIONS IN KENYA

AbstractThis article argues that the beginning of the new millennium marks not the end of the missionary era but its high point. Critical changes have taken place in international development policy, resulting in a smaller role for the state and a greater role for non-state agencies, including NGOs. In Kenya, American evangelical missions constitute one of the most important of these groups, but their significance is overlooked, hence they are described as 'invisible'. The article examines the role of missions as implementers of the New Policy Agenda in Kenya, focusing on five organisations and their involvement in such matters as health care, AIDS, family planning and food security. It enriches our understanding of the contemporary role of mission-related Christianity in Africa, and explores the relationship between American evangelical missions and the international aid regime.

Aid coordination in sub‐Saharan Africa: A bilateral view on partnership*

The article examines the current debate surrounding ‘aid coordination’ amongst bilateral and multilateral donors in their efforts to increase aid efficiency in sub‐Saharan Africa. It analyses critiques of the current international aid regime and details the new consensus on ‘partnership’. The article goes on to outline a set of ideal‐type conditions as prerequisites for effective coordination between donors and recipients with a view to a more equitable relationship. Specifically, conditions among donors, within the developing countries, and in the dynamic relationship between the two are examined, using the Canadian International Development Agency's (CIDA) experience as a participant in the Strategic Partnership with Africa (SPA) as an illustration of the ways in which these conditions are, or can be, played out at the policy coordination level, as well as in practice.

Development assistance on the brink

The international aid regime is currently faced with a major paradox. On the one hand, officials in bilateral and multlateral agencies increasingly agree that 'aid matters' and can contribute significantly to development. This confidence has been reinforced by the fact that, after a decade dominated by the objective of structural adjustment, the much less controversial one of sustainable development has taken over as the new mantra of aid policies. On the other hand, development assistance appears to be a declining priority for foreign policy-makers in the developed countries. The generosity of donors has diminished to the point that aid reached an all-time low in 1997. The aim of this article is to make sense of this paradox. After examining the grounds for optimism within the aid community, the article then explains why there is reason to doubt that foreign assistance can effectively foster sustainable development over the course of the next generation.

State formation and international aid: The emergence of the Palestinian authority

Thirty years ago, Samuel Huntington criticized Western aid policy toward new states that assumed that economic improvement in the standard of living coupled with democratic institutions would yield a more stable and democratic state-building process. An extensive political economic literature on the developmental state has since emerged that explores the complex relationship between state capacity, economic development and democracy, much of it critical of both the economist assumption, and the importance of democracy in achieving sustainable growth, at least in the initial stages of statehood. This literature, however, does not specifically relate to the impact of international aid affects state consolidation despite its critical role in the initial stages of new states. The paper explores how international aid affects on new state formation in the 1990s as reflected by the Palestinian experience, and more specifically whether Huntington's criticism is valid today regarding the international aid regime toward the Palestinian Authority established in May 1994. It shows that international aid was initially based on economist assumptions, changed course to reflect the importance of the state, and now must seek a better balance between the centralization of power, developing state capacity, and promoting civil society.

Moving with the Crowd: Canadian Aid to Africa

This article examines the development of Canadian foreign aid policy to Africa, particularly since 1980. We argue that the principles and rules governing Canadian assistance to Africa are increasingly defined at the systemic level, by and among the community of aid donors, rather than at the domestic level, by Canadian decision-makers. In short, Canadian aid policy to Africa is increasingly influenced by the international aid regime. We do not deny the continuing importance of domestic factors. However, when the pattern of change is placed in historical perspective, it becomes clear that the role of domestic determinants has gradually given way to systemic determinants. Moreover, while one should not read too much into a single case study, our argument illustrates important aspects of the changing global dynamic of aid to the Third World in general and Africa in particular. More specifically, it illustrates the growing intensity and coherence of 'global governance' in this area.1

‘Political conditionality’ and democratisation

The use of aid to impose political conditions on recipient countries, to further democratic and government reforms or to punish non‐compliance with earlier demands, is a relatively new feature of the international aid regime. This article evaluates the proliferating donor and academic literature emerging on the subject. At the heart of discussion of democracy/ governance policies are debates about transformation of the state, its relationship to economic development and the decreasing extent to which considerations of sovereignty limit donor interventions. The author argues that, while political conditionalities may assist the development of democratic movements in Africa, there is an irony in that structural adjustment risks undermining the state reforms seen to be essential to them while, equally, democratisation may challenge the processes of economic restructuring being imposed.

From domestic to international justice: the welfare state and foreign aid

Foreign aid often is interpreted as an international projection of domestic income redistribution mechanisms, and many authors suggest that differences between welfare states account for variations in donor behavior. A new understanding of the welfare state can improve traditional explanations of this linkage. Existing studies of the welfare–aid relationship use two welfare state indicators: domestic spending and partisan politics. We propose a third type of indicator—the institutional attributes of the welfare state—and demonstrate its relevance. The level of foreign aid provided by a country varies with social spending, but even more so with the degree to which its welfare state embodies socialist attributes. This finding helps explain how domestic political institutions influence the evolution of international cooperation and, specifically, how welfare principles institutionalized at the domestic level shape the participation of developed countries in the international aid regime.

Welfare Institutions and Foreign Aid: Domestic Foundations of Canadian Foreign Policy

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between Canada's development assistance policy and its welfare state institutions. Through an analysis of the Canadian experience, the article argues that the differences between the social policies of developed countries help to understand the nature of their participation in the international aid regime. Although this hypothesis is not entirely new, it is here refined with the help of the comparative literature on the welfare state, and assessed systematically for Canada. Through this case study, the article explores the extent to which values and principles institutionalized at the domestic level influence foreign policy and the international order.