scholarly journals Armed conflict, terrorism, and the allocation of foreign aid

Author(s):  
Piotr Lis

Armed conflict and terrorism damage economic development through disruption of economic activity, trade, and the destruction of human and physical resources. They also can affect foreign aid allocation, but the likely net effect of this is not obvious. On the one hand, donors may be discouraged and reduce aid. On the other hand, donors may provide more aid, for instance as a reimbursement for counter-terrorism efforts that benefit the donor country. This article aims to identify the net effect using data for a panel of countries. It finds that armed conflict does have a large and negative effect on bilateral and multilateral aid, but that bilateral donors seem to turn a blind eye to violence occurring in oil-exporting countries. Further, the article finds that while transnational terrorism tends to increase bilateral aid, bilateral donors seem indifferent to domestic terrorism. In contrast, multilateral aid is found not to react to transnational terrorism, but does react to domestic terrorism.

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 655-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Lis

AbstractArmed conflict, and to a lesser extent terrorism, have detrimental effect on economic and social development through destruction of human and physical capital and ensuing disruption to economic activity. There is also likely to be an indirect effect of political instability through its impact on foreign aid. The net effect is not obvious; violence may discourage aid donors and hence lead to a fall in received aid on the one hand, but it may well lead to an increase in foreign aid as donors offer reimbursement for counterterrorism efforts on the other hand. This paper uses a panel of countries to identify the net effect of armed conflict and terrorism, both domestic and international, on aid receipts. It shows that armed conflict has a negative effect on the amounts of both bilateral and multilateral aid. It also finds that terrorism tends to increase foreign assistance. The effect is stronger for bilateral aid; this is consistent with the expectation that they are likely to use foreign aid to directly or indirectly assist governments fighting terrorism. Nonetheless, these results do not hold for Muslim countries which do not receive increased aid when suffering from terrorism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
W. Jean Marie Kébré

<p><em>This article analyzes the relationship between external aid and economic growth in the ECOWAS region, with a focus on bilateral and multilateral aid effects. The key idea behind this analysis is an argument of Svensson</em><em> </em><em>(2000)</em><em> that multilateral aid is more effective than bilateral aid because of the high degree of altruism of bilateral donors. He therefore suggested a delegation of bilateral aid to multilateral institutions. To appreciate his suggestion, this analysis used panel data from the 16 ECOWAS countries from the period 1984 to 2014. The results of the estimates, based on the dynamic least squares estimator (DOLS), show a negative effect of foreign aid on economic growth. This negative effect on economic growth persists when the components of aid are introduced into the model. In addition, results highlight that governance is a channel through which foreign aid affect positively economic growth. In these conditions, bilateral aid is more effective on economic growth than multilateral aid. These results about foreign aid received by ECOWAS countries invalidates</em><em> </em><em>Svensson’s</em><em> </em><em>(</em><a title="Svensson, 2000 #5" href="#_ENREF_1"><em>2000</em></a><em>)</em><em> theory. Therefore, a delegation of bilateral aid to multilateral institutions is not relevant because bilateral aid contributes more to economic growth if governance is taken into account.</em></p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice Asongu ◽  
Jacinta Nwachukwu

Purpose This study aims to use interactive quantile regressions to assess the conditional role of foreign aid in reducing the potentially negative effect of terrorism on fuel exports in 78 developing countries for the period of 1984-2008. Design/methodology/approach Bilateral and multilateral aid indicators have been used, whereas terrorism includes domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorism dynamics. Interactive quantile regressions have been used. Findings First, with the exception of unclear terrorism, bilateral aid can be used to mitigate the potentially negative effects of terrorism on fuel exports in bottom quantiles of the fuel export distribution. Second, multilateral aid can be used to reduce the negative effect of transnational terrorism on fuel exports exclusively in the highest (90th) quantile of fuel exports. The corresponding modifying thresholds are within policy ranges disclosed in the summary statistics. Practical implications While the policy instrument of bilateral aid is most relevant in countries with below-median fuel exports, the policy instrument of multilateral aid is effective with respect to transnational terrorism in countries with the highest levels of fuel exports. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on the role of external flows in reducing the negative externalities of terrorism on development outcomes.


2020 ◽  
pp. 0095327X2090218
Author(s):  
Demet Yalcin Mousseau

Can foreign aid trigger ethnic war? The quantitative conflict literature has produced mixed findings on the effect of foreign aid on civil war in developing states. One reason for the mixed results is that a subset of civil wars, ethnic wars, are more likely than other kinds of civil wars to be triggered by foreign aid. This is because large amounts of foreign aid can cause the state to become a prize worth fighting over, mobilizing ethnic identity and group-related rebellion. This article investigates this question by testing the separate impacts of total, bilateral, and multilateral aid given by state and nonstate actors on the onset of ethnic war, using a cross-national time-series dataset of 147 countries from 1961 to 2008. The findings show a very strong association of foreign aid with ethnic war, whether measured as total aid, bilateral aid, or multilateral aid.


Author(s):  
Anjay Kumar Mishra ◽  
P. S. Aithal

Purpose: Development needs fund and foreign aid is one of the majour source of fund for developing countries. The Paper aims to analyse the trends and composition of foreign aids with case reference to the Swiss aid. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is based on secondary data from 2001/02 to 2014/15.Descriptive statistics has been applied to develop the trends and compositions. Findings/Result: In FY 2014/15, the total foreign aid commitment increased by totaling to Rs.1195.5 million as compared to Rs.2125.9 million in FY 2014/15. Of the total commitment in FY 2014/15 the contribution of bilateral aid was totaling and multilateral aid contributed. While categorizing the total foreign aid the share of grant assistance constituted and loan assistance million. In FY 2014/15 the foreign grant assistant subsequently increased by whereas foreign loan assistance decreased. The bilateral aid disbursement was out of total bilateral aid commitment. Multilateral aid disbursement was 56 percent. The amount of loan is increasing in the economy. This condition also indicates that in future debt burden in budgetary system is directly reducing the development expenditure which decreases the flow of budget in poverty reduction sectors. In amount Swiss aid is much less but is efficiency is widespread in increasing people's living standard. Due to 100% grant Swiss aid doesn't create fiscal burden in the economy. Originality/Value: it is an empirical research to signify the urgency of increasing Swiss aid and Swiss project in Nepal for sustained and broad-based economic development. Paper Type: Analytical Policy Research


1978 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 463-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Thomas Rowe

Proponents of multilateral aid have generally assumed that such aid is less responsive than bilateral aid to the political characteristics of recipient countries. Many critics of foreign aid have challenged this assumption, arguing that US influence ensures that multilateral programs serve the same interventionist purposes as bilateral. This study of per capita aid allocations to Latin American countries confirms that there are strong similarities in the distribution of aid. However, when the relationships between aid data and data on national attributes are examined, the results do not support the notion that political characteristics account for the similarities. For some multilateral agencies, there is little or no association between aid and recipient political attributes. For others, there are associations with political features, but the associations are not identical with those of US bilateral aid. In short, whatever the determinants behind decisions on the allocation of bilateral and multilateral aid, the same considerations with regard to the politics of potential recipients do not appear to be operating. All of this does not mean that US interests are not being served by multilateral programs. They may be served in a variety of ways, and still be consistent with the results reported here. That important issue is beyond the scope of this very limited study.


2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena V. McLean

AbstractExisting studies of foreign aid suggest that donor countries' economic groups, such as exporters, should be generally opposed to multilateral aid because multilateral flows do not allow donor countries to tie their aid implicitly or explicitly to the promotion of their domestic economic interests. However, economic groups can actually benefit from some types of multilateral aid, and this serves as an incentive for donor governments to support international organizations generating the benefits. I test my argument using data on aid allocated to the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol and the Global Environment Facility, and international trade by commodity. I find robust empirical support for the argument that when donors' domestic economic groups are likely to gain from opportunities created by international environmental organizations' programs, donor governments increase aid allocations to these organizations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice Asongu ◽  
Oasis Kodila-Tedika

Purpose This paper aims to assess the role of foreign aid in reducing the hypothetically negative impact of terrorism on trade using a panel of 78 developing countries with data for the period 1984-2008. Design/methodology/approach The empirical evidence is based on interactive generalised method of moment estimations with forward orthogonal deviations. Bilateral, multilateral and total aid dynamics are used, whereas terrorism entails domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorism dynamics. Findings The following findings have been established. First, while bilateral aid has no significant effect on trade, multilateral aid and total aid have positive impacts. Second total terrorism, domestic terrorism and transnational terrorism increase trade with increasing order of magnitude. Third, corresponding negative marginal effects on the interaction between foreign aid (bilateral and total) and terrorism display thresholds that are within range. Fourth, there is scant evidence of positive net effects. Overall, the findings broadly indicate that foreign aid is a necessary but not a sufficient policy tool for completely dampening the effects of terrorism on trade. Originality/value There is a growing policy interest in the relationship between terrorism and international development outcomes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas John Cooke ◽  
Ian Shuttleworth

It is widely presumed that information and communication technologies, or ICTs, enable migration in several ways; primarily by reducing the costs of migration. However, a reconsideration of the relationship between ICTs and migration suggests that ICTs may just as well hinder migration; primarily by reducing the costs of not moving.  Using data from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics, models that control for sources of observed and unobserved heterogeneity indicate a strong negative effect of ICT use on inter-state migration within the United States. These results help to explain the long-term decline in internal migration within the United States.


Author(s):  
Christopher Tuck

This chapter charts the key developments in European land warfare since 1900. On the one hand, it is possible to identify overarching explanatory ideas, metanarratives, that can be used to identify continuities in development over time across Europe’s armies. These include the concept of ‘modern system’ land warfare and the ‘transformation paradigm’. However, as this chapter also shows, these two points of continuity do not mean either that European armies are homogenous, or that their conceptual assumptions are uncontested. European land warfare remains a heterogeneous phenomenon, shaped by the variety in national contexts and by contending debates on how appropriate Europe’s armies are to the actual challenges of contemporary and future armed conflict.


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