A Sociology of Foreign Aid and the World Society

Abstract

This article highlights an emerging research agenda for the study of foreign aid through a World Society Theory lens. First, it briefly summarizes the social scientific literature on aid and sociologists' earlier contributions to this research. Next, it reviews the contours of world society research and the place of aid within this body of literature. Finally, it outlines three emergent threads of research on foreign aid that comprise a new research agenda for the sociology of foreign aid and its role in world society globalization.

Foreign aid and the rule of law: Institutional diffusion versus legal reach

“…When considering aid's role in World Society more generally, our results support the idea that sector-focused foreign aid can influence the diffusion/adoption of common models by states. This is in keeping with our hypotheses, and with earlier research on aid from a World Society perspective which theorizes a diffusion role for aid (Swiss, 2016b(Swiss, , 2016c. Still, our evidence suggests that aid's influence on isomorphism may have its limits when it comes to supporting not only the spread of models, but their institutionalization and efficacy.…”

“…Foreign aid's role in funding the diffusion and institutionalization of world society norms has only recently become a focus of research (Fejerskov, 2015;Peterson, 2014;Swiss, 2016bSwiss, , 2016cSwiss, , 2017Velasco, 2020). This research has shown that the more ties to bilateral aid donors that states have, the more likely a country is to adhere to world society human rights norms and join international organizations (Swiss, 2016b).…”

“…In this paper, therefore, we take up Swiss's (2016c) call to look more closely at the role of foreign aid in the diffusion of world society norms/models on a sector-by-sector basis. In doing so, we ask whether foreign aid targeted at security sector reform and legal/judicial reform influences both: (a) the diffusion of common rule of law norms and institutions among countries; and (b) changes in the level of the rule of law within societies over time.…”

Bilateral International Assistance: Factors for Donor Countries

“…В целом в литературе о помощи исследуются три главных аспекта: мотивация помощи, эффективность и результаты помощи, политика и практика оказания помощи, что отмечено в работе, посвященной социологии иностранной помощи и ее роли в деятельности мирового сообщества (Swiss, 2016).…”

“…Анализируя тенденции изменения форматов помощи и особенности ее предоставления разными странами в части мотивации, можно выделить три основные концепции (подхода) (Swiss, 2016;Schraeder, 1998): реалистический, альтруистический и подход, связанный с общим дискурсом отношений между развитыми и развивающимися странами в контексте развития. Близкий, но более детализированный анализ мотивов доноров отражен в работе, посвященной изучению политической экономии международной помощи (Дегтерев, 2014).…”