Strategic Nexus Between Populism and Foreign Aid

Year 2021, Volume: 13 Issue: 3, 556 - 592, 15.10.2021

Berk Esen Efe Tokdemir

https://doi.org/10.53376/ap.2021.19

Abstract

While the literature has discussed both the causes and the policy impact of populist governments in the domestic arena, few studies examine the role populist leaders/governments play in the sphere of foreign relations of their countries. Extant studies suggest that populist leaders tend to engage in bilateral relations, deal directly with other leaders, and circumvent both national and supra-national institutions and organizations. In this paper, we investigate to what extent populist leaders use foreign aid giving as a foreign policy strategy. To this end, we empirically test the behavioural consequences of populism on foreign aid giving and receiving patterns. By utilizing Global Populism Dataset and AidData we examine the nexus between foreign aid allocation and populism. The results reveal that countries with populist leaders in charge are to offer higher amount of foreign aid; yet being a populist regime does not help receiving more aid. In fact, not only non-populist regimes but even populist donors refrain from giving high amounts of aid to populist recipients. Our findings imply a strategic use of foreign aid by the populist leaders; yet this strategy does not involve coming to fellow populist regimes’ assistance.

Keywords

Populism, Foreign Policy, Foreign Aid, Strategic Use of Aid

Popülizm ve Dış Yardım Arasındaki Stratejik Bağ

Abstract

Popülist hükümetlerin iç siyasette yer alma nedenleri ve politik etkileri literatürde tartışılırken, popülist liderlerin/hükümetlerin devletlerinin dış ilişkilerinde oynadığı rolü inceleyen sınırlı sayıda çalışma bulunmaktadır. Mevcut çalışmalar, popülist liderlerin ikili ilişkiler kurmaya yatkın olduğunu, diğer liderlerle direkt ilişkilere açık olduğunu ve böylece hem ulusal hem de uluslar üstü kurum ve organizasyonların çalışmalarına ket vurduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Bu makalede popülist liderlerin dış yardım dağıtımını bir dış politika stratejisi olarak ne ölçüde kullandıklarını araştırılmaktadır. Bu amaçla, popülizmin, dış yardım alma ve verme modelleri üzerindeki davranışsal sonuçlarını ampirik olarak test edilmiştir. Global Populism Dataset ve AidData verilerini kullanarak, dış yardım tahsisi ve popülizm arasındaki bağlantıyı incelenmektedir. Sonuçlar, popülist liderlerin bulunduğu ülkelerin daha çok dış yardım sağladığını, ancak popülist rejim olmanın daha fazla yardım almayı sağlayamadığını ortaya koymaktadır. Hatta, salt popülist olmayan bağışçıların değil popülist bağışçıların bile popülist alıcılara yüksek miktarlarda yardım vermekten kaçındığı ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bulgularımız, dış yardımların popülist liderler tarafından stratejik olarak kullandığını gösterirken, bu stratejinin, popülist rejimlerin birbirlerine yardım etmesi anlamını içermediğini göstermektedir.

Keywords

Popülizm, Dış Politika, Dış Yardım, Yardımın Stratejik Kullanımı.

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