296 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    296 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Aid Power and Politics delves into the political roots of aid policy, demonstrating how and why governments across the world use aid for global influence, and exploring the role it plays in present-day global governance and international relations.

    In reconsidering aid as part of international relations, the book argues that the interplay between domestic and international development policy works in both directions, with individual countries having the capacity to shape global issues, whilst at the same time, global agreements and trends, in turn, shape the political behaviour of individual countries. Starting with the background of aid policy and international relations, the book goes on to explore the behaviour of both traditional and emerging donors (the US, the UK, the Nordic countries, Japan, Spain, Hungary, Brazil, and the European Union), and then finally looks at some big international agendas which have influenced donors, from the liberal consensus on democracy and good governance, to gender equality and global health.

    Aid Power and Politics will be an important read for international development students, researchers, practitioners and policy makers, and for anyone who has ever wondered why it is that countries spend so much money on the well-being of non-citizens outside their borders.

    Introduction

    Iliana Olivié, and Aitor Pérez

    Part 1. Aid in the Framework of International Relations Theories

    1. The Politics of Aid from the Perspective of International Relations Theories

    Bernabé Malacalza

    2. Foreign Aid’s Motivations: Theoretical Arguments and Empirical Evidence

    Gino N. Pauselli

    Part 2. The politics of donors’ aid policies, a country-based approach

    3. The U.S. Elite Consensus on Aid

    Henry de Cazotte

    4. The UK: An Aid Superpower at a Crossroads

    Myles Wickstead

    5. The Scandinavians: Aid Policy Determinants and Performances

    Olav Stokke

    6. Japanese Development Assistance: Economic and Political Win-Win Proposals

    Marie Söderberg

    7. Spain: The Rise and Fall of a Compliant Donor

    Iliana Olivié and Aitor Pérez

    8. While the Cat’s Away, Will the Mice Play? Government-NGO Relations and the Politics of Aid in Hungary

    Krisztina Szabó, Balázs Szent-Iványi and András Tétényi

    9. Brazilian Cooperation Policy: Promotion of Development and Global Projection

    Guillermo Santander

    10. Solidarity and Security in the EU Discourse on Aid

    Iliana Olivié and Aitor Pérez

    Part 3. Thematic agendas

    11. Donorship in a State of Flux

    Nilima Gulrajani, and Liam Swiss

    12. The International Politics of Aid: ‘Good Governance’ and Democracy Promotion

    David Williams

    13. Gender Inequality, Aid Agencies, and Global Norms

    Lars Engberg-Pedersen

    14. Old and New Powers in Development Assistance in Health

    Eduardo Missoni and Fabrizio Tediosi

    15. ‘We First’ and the Anti-Foreign Aid Narratives of Populist Radical-Right Parties in Europe

    Margarita Gómez-Reino

    Biography

    Iliana Olivié is Senior Analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute, Spain, where she works on global development issues and coordinates the Elcano Global Presence Index. She is also an associate professor in the Department of Applied & Structural Economics & History, Complutense University of Madrid.

    Aitor Pérez, economist and political scientist, works as consultant for UN agencies and international NGOs, conducting policy research and evaluation of aid-funded programmes in developing countries. He is also Senior Research Fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute.

    "What this volume does very well is fill a gap in the literature by bringing together an analysis of country and thematic policies and putting them firmly in the broader context of foreign policy and international relations. In the process, it improves our understanding of the politics of aid" -- Andy Sumner, King's College London, UK

    "This book offers a rich analysis of the domestic and international politics of foreign aid in a range of donor countries and several key crosscutting themes. It makes valuable theoretical and empirical contributions. I learned a lot from its historical perspectives and up-to-date examinations of the rapidly changing aid ecosystem." -- Stephen Brown, School of Political Science, University of Ottawa, Canada