Middle Powers in International Development Cooperation: Assessing the Roles of South Korea and Turkey

Abstract

This chapter analyses the foreign aid discourses of South Korea and Turkey in international development cooperation under the framework of middle-power theory. Korea and Turkey make use of their middle-power identity with the aim of increasing their presence around the globe, where foreign aid is used as an important foreign policy tool. They claim to be like-minded peers playing a bridging role between the developed and developing worlds. Despite opting for similar results in global politics, they show divergent strategic and ideational pathways in foreign aid. This creates significant implications for cooperation at the global level, especially because it questions the role of middle-power collaboration in facilitating possible rapprochement between traditional and emerging donors as well as within the Southern providers.

Challenges of cooperation for development: A case‐study analysis of Cuban health solidarity programmes in Nigeria

“…Simultaneously, SSC is an instrument by which providing countries can potentially increase their soft power and influence within global governance systems (Esteves & Klingebiel, 2021). Various patterns and actors come to play within the framework of SSC including those by Baydag (2021) described as ‘middle powers’ like South Korea and Turkey, with Turkey increasingly active in trade and service delivery with many African countries.…”