The Foreign Aid System: Regime or Hegemonic Vehicle?

Abstract

Established originally to help remedy Western powers’ problems of control in the Cold War era, the foreign aid system would seem to qualify as an international regime, and thus open to interpretation according to regime theory in international political economy studies. This article questions that theory’s relevance for explaining today’s aid system, in light of the geopolitical, mercantile and security purposes to which it has been put by Western governments, especially the United States as hegemonic power. Clearer and more comprehensive insights into the aid system’s evolving roles can be gained through international political economy approaches, especially sociologicallyinformed versions of constructivism and recent work on de-nationalized global politics. This article briefly discusses some of the more promising approaches.