Theories of International Relations and the Explanation of Foreign Aid

Abstract

50 years after the publication of the first and influential article in international relations (IR) analyzing foreign aid motivations, A theory of foreign aid, by Hans Morgenthau, IR scholarship has not yet accomplished a consistent theoretical body explaining international development cooperation. Most of the empirical studies on foreign aid have been contributions from other disciplines, especially economics. Research from the field of international relations has been mostly descriptive or poorly connected with IR paradigms.This article proposes to analyze motivations of foreign aid allocations decisions of donors. These motivations will be examined from the theoretical perspective of the international relations scholarship. In this way, it is sought to contribute, from the discipline of IR, to the explanation of the process in which developed countries make transfers of resources to developing countries.CITE AS:Pauselli, G. (2013). Teorías de relaciones internacionales y la explicación de la ayuda externa. Iberoamerican Journal of Development Studies, 2 (1): 72-92

Complying with Idealistic and Realistic Approaches: The Challenge for UK Aid to the Global South in the Post-Brexit Era

“…Morgenthau (1985) 51 explained that the main signpost that helps political realism to find its way through the landscape of international politics is the concept of interest, which provides the link between reason trying to understand international politics and the facts to be understood. Pauselli (2013) 52 corroborated recently the realistic approach to foreign aid as he explained that self-interests are part of the process in which developed countries make transfers of resources to poor countries. Complying with the realistic approach as described above turns out to be another challenge for UK aid to the global south in the Post-Brexit era and therefore the principle of this approach applies equally to the circumstances alluded to above.…”