Motivations for Bilateral Aid Allocation in Korea: Humanitarian, Commercial, or Diplomatic?

This study investigates Korea's motivations for foreign aid allocation, analyzing panel data from over 180 countries for the last 20 years. The results show that Korea's aid allocation reflects both recipient needs and Korea's own national interests but does not consistently consider aid effectiveness. Korean aid is also characterized by its use as an instrument of both summit diplomacy and resource security. In addition, its commercial motivations appear to have shifted over time, from export promotion to overseas investment support. Despite internal and external pressures, there is no obvious evidence that Korea's allocation rule converges with international guidelines that recommend greater consideration of recipient needs and aid effectiveness and less consideration of donor interests.

Download Full-text

The Politics of Private Foreign Aid: Humanitarian Principles, Economic Development Objectives, and Organizational Interests in NGO Private Aid Allocation

International Organization ◽

10.1017/s0020818312000252 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 66 (4) ◽

pp. 571-607 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

Tim Büthe ◽

Solomon Major ◽

André de Mello e Souza

Keyword(s):

Foreign Aid ◽

Latin American ◽

Strong Support ◽

Original Data ◽

Development Aid ◽

Aid Effectiveness ◽

Regional Effect ◽

Data Set ◽

Aid Allocation ◽

Development Ngos

AbstractA large and increasing share of international humanitarian and development aid is raised from nongovernmental sources, allocated by transnational NGOs. We know little about this private foreign aid, not even how it is distributed across recipient countries, much less what explains the allocation. This article presents an original data set, based on detailed financial records from most of the major U.S.-based humanitarian and development NGOs, which allows us for the first time to map and analyze the allocation of U.S. private aid. We find no support for the common claim that aid NGOs systematically prioritize their organizational self-interest when they allocate private aid, and we find only limited support for the hypothesis that expected aid effectiveness drives aid allocation. By contrast, we find strong support for the argument that the deeply rooted humanitarian discourse within and among aid NGOs drives their aid allocation, consistent with a view of aid NGOs as principled actors and constructivist theories of international relations. Recipients' humanitarian need is substantively and statistically the most significant determinant of U.S. private aid allocation (beyond a regional effect in favor of Latin American countries). Materialist concerns do not crowd out ethical norms among these NGOs.

Download Full-text

Are democratising countries rewarded with higher levels of foreign aid?

Acta Oeconomica ◽

10.1556/032.65.2015.4.5 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 65 (4) ◽

pp. 593-615

Author(s):

Balázs Szent-Iványi

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Foreign Aid ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Partner Country ◽

Democratic Transitions ◽

Aid Allocation ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Over Time

The paper examines how flows of foreign aid have reacted to events of democratisation in developing countries. Using a panel dataset of 136 aid-receiving countries between 1980 and 2009, aid allocation regressions reveal that Western donors in general have tended to react to visible, major democratic transitions by increasing aid to the partner country, but no significant increases can be identified in the case of countries introducing smaller democratic reforms. The increases in aid flows are not sustained over time, implying that donors do not provide long-term support to nascent democracies. Also, democratisations in Sub-Saharan Africa do not seem to have been rewarded with higher levels of aid.

Download Full-text

Reorienting Foreign Aid*

10.1093/oso/9780190851828.003.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sarah Blodgett Bermeo

Keyword(s):

Cold War ◽

Foreign Aid ◽

Aid Effectiveness ◽

Bilateral Aid ◽

Development Framework ◽

Quality Of Governance ◽

Donor State ◽

The Cold War ◽

Aid Policy

This chapter applies the theory of targeted development to foreign aid and analyzes bilateral aid allocation from 23 donors to 156 recipient for the period 1973–2012. The targeted development framework predicts that donors will use aid where it can most benefit themselves by decreasing negative spillovers from underdevelopment, and that this concern with spillovers will have grown as globalization has increased. The analysis shows that in the post-2001 period, donors give more aid to nearby countries and to those that are linked to themselves through trade, migration, or historical ties. These countries have an increased likelihood of transmitting spillovers to the donor state. This marks a change from the Cold War period, when non-development considerations were leading determinants of aid policy. The analysis also shows that donors alter the composition of aid based on the quality of governance in a recipient, consistent with an attempt to increase aid effectiveness.

Download Full-text

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

Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies ◽

10.1177/0974910121989462 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 58-80

Author(s):

David Dole ◽

Steven Lewis-Workman ◽

Dennis D. Trinidad ◽

Xianbin Yao

Keyword(s):

Foreign Aid ◽

Historical Perspective ◽

International Aid ◽

Economic Cooperation ◽

Aid Effectiveness ◽

Development Cooperation ◽

New Approaches ◽

Emerging Donors ◽

Aid Programs ◽

Over Time

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.

Download Full-text

Does Political Instability in Developing Countries Attract More Foreign Aid?

International Journal of Economics and Finance ◽

10.5539/ijef.v8n1p208 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 208 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mahjabeen Mamoon

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Foreign Aid ◽

Random Effect ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Aid Effectiveness ◽

Internal Conflict ◽

Law And Order ◽

Aid Allocation ◽

Socioeconomic Condition ◽

Government Stability

<p>While foreign aid has many determinants, an important factor influencing aid allocation is the political risk prevailing in the aid receiving country. This paper uses panel approach to investigate empirically how different political instabilities in the aid receiving country influence aid allocation by donors. The paper specifies and estimates models using fixed effect and random effect approach that explain the allocation of net per capita ODA among 50 developing countries over the period 1990-2012. Out of the total eight risk indices used, five exerts a significant impact on aid allocation of which four are indicators of governance while the fifth is an indicator of internal conflict. Based on the models, there is a negative relationship between corruption and aid flow indicating donors’ intolerance for malfeasance. However, the significantly positive association between aid flow and other three governance indicators- government stability, law and order and bureaucratic quality is questionable. While addressing the concept of governance in the development agenda reflects donors’ increasing concern for aid effectiveness, the rise in aid inflow with the worsening of government stability, law and order and bureaucratic quality leads to one critical question- Are donors aiding bad governance? Based on the positive significance of poor governance and the insignificance of the socioeconomic condition on aid flow, the paper argues that donors are motivated by self-interest rather than altruistic nature.</p>

Download Full-text

The Globalisation of Foreign Aid: Global Influences and the Diffusion of Aid Priorities

The Palgrave Handbook of Development Cooperation for Achieving the 2030 Agenda ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-57938-8_6 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 113-125

Author(s):

Liam Swiss

Keyword(s):

Foreign Aid ◽

National Interests ◽

Bilateral Aid ◽

2030 Agenda ◽

Aid Policy

AbstractThis chapter explains why bilateral aid donors often look and act alike, despite distinct national interests and histories—a phenomenon previously identified as “the globalisation of foreign aid”. It identifies processes that drive the similarity of aid actors and the diffusion of aid priorities, contributing to the globalisation of aid. The chapter reflects upon: (1) how the isomorphism of aid institutions and the homogenisation of aid policy represent the effects of these common processes of globalisation; (2) the implications of the globalisation of aid on the 2030 Agenda; and (3) how the globalisation of aid contributes to the “contested cooperation” framework woven through this volume.

Download Full-text

Foreign Aid Allocation from a Network Perspective: The Effect of Global Ties

10.31235/osf.io/jdceb ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Liam Swiss

Keyword(s):

Foreign Aid ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Negative Binomial ◽

Recipient Country ◽

Negative Binomial Regression ◽

World Society ◽

Aid Allocation ◽

Bilateral Aid ◽

New Approach ◽

Binomial Regression

This article examines competing explanations for foreign aid allocation on the global level and argues for a new approach to understanding aid from an institutionalist perspective. Using network data on all official bilateral aid relationships between countries in the period from 1975 through 2006 and data on recipient country ties to world society, the article offers an alternative explanation for the allocation of global foreign aid. Fixed effects negative binomial regression models on a panel sample of 117 developing countries reveal that global ties to world society in the form of non-governmental memberships and treaty ratifications are strong determinants of the network centrality of recipient countries in the global foreign aid network. Countries with a higher level of adherence and connection to world society norms and organizations are shown to be the beneficiaries of an increased number of aid relationships with wealthy donor countries. The findings also suggest that prior explanations of aid allocation grounded in altruist or realist motivations are insufficient to account for the patterns of aid allocation seen globally in recent years.

Download Full-text