Strategic Interests or Moral Commitments? A Heterogeneity Analysis of Foreign Aid in Response to Human Rights Violations
(2025) EKHS42 20251Department of Economic History
- Abstract
- This study examines how donors balance strategic interests and human rights concerns in allocating foreign aid, with a focus on donor and sector heterogeneity. Analyzing bilateral aid commitments from 41 donors to 148 developing recipient countries between 2000 and 2022 with a panel Tobit model, the results reveal that on average, donors reduce aid in relation to human rights violations, but only when geopolitical and competitive interests are low. Contrary to common assumptions, Nordic, “like-minded” donors are not more sensitive to human rights violations, nor consistently less strategically oriented than other donor groups. Sectoral analysis reveals that while for the average recipient country, economic aid is decreased in relation to... (More)
- This study examines how donors balance strategic interests and human rights concerns in allocating foreign aid, with a focus on donor and sector heterogeneity. Analyzing bilateral aid commitments from 41 donors to 148 developing recipient countries between 2000 and 2022 with a panel Tobit model, the results reveal that on average, donors reduce aid in relation to human rights violations, but only when geopolitical and competitive interests are low. Contrary to common assumptions, Nordic, “like-minded” donors are not more sensitive to human rights violations, nor consistently less strategically oriented than other donor groups. Sectoral analysis reveals that while for the average recipient country, economic aid is decreased in relation to human rights violations, social aid often increases, although both are influenced by strategic considerations. The results indicate that the relationship between foreign aid, human rights and strategic interest is more nuanced than previously thought. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9201380
- author
- Hauck, Lara Sophie LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- EKHS42 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9201380
- date added to LUP
- 2026-09-07 13:58:25
- date last changed
- 2026-09-07 13:58:25
@misc{9201380,
abstract = {{This study examines how donors balance strategic interests and human rights concerns in allocating foreign aid, with a focus on donor and sector heterogeneity. Analyzing bilateral aid commitments from 41 donors to 148 developing recipient countries between 2000 and 2022 with a panel Tobit model, the results reveal that on average, donors reduce aid in relation to human rights violations, but only when geopolitical and competitive interests are low. Contrary to common assumptions, Nordic, “like-minded” donors are not more sensitive to human rights violations, nor consistently less strategically oriented than other donor groups. Sectoral analysis reveals that while for the average recipient country, economic aid is decreased in relation to human rights violations, social aid often increases, although both are influenced by strategic considerations. The results indicate that the relationship between foreign aid, human rights and strategic interest is more nuanced than previously thought.}},
author = {{Hauck, Lara Sophie}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Strategic Interests or Moral Commitments? A Heterogeneity Analysis of Foreign Aid in Response to Human Rights Violations}},
year = {{2025}},
}