To What Extent Do National Interests Influence National Foreign Aid Policy

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III Summarizing the arguments, donor or developed countries have different reasons to give foreign aid to developing countries. The research question that this essay tried to answer is: To what extent do national interests influence national foreign aid policy? Based on the given arguments we can conclude that foreign aid thus isn’t as altruistically as often perceived. Also foreign aid can have mixed impacts and harm as well as help development in receiving countries. Donor countries clearly have strategic, economic and military interest for supporting developing countries: foreign aid could lead to more political support on international issues, create beneficial trade deals and is used as a strategic tool to increase national security. Humanitarian needs of the recipient’s counties thus don’t seem to be the primary reason for developed countries to give foreign aid. Self- and national interest plays a significant role in determining whether and how much foreign aid is given to which specific country. However this doesn’t mean that self-interested reasons can’t also have an altruistic component: donor countries feel the responsibility to help their former colonies and (although not as a primary reason) developing countries could actually want to do some good by improving the social, economic and political situation of those countries. Concluding, national interest thus certainly influences national foreign aid to a great extent, but this doesn’t mean that altruistic reasons don’t also play a role. It is clear that there is a general dependency between the developed countries and the developing countries. Whether foreign aid should or should not be used as a strategic and political tool of “give and take” remains an ethical question that is not easily answered and remains open for future discussion.

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