Chapter 1-Introduction
The motive of donor nations for administering foreign aid has unfolded over time. Over the past 100 years, foreign aid structures that began with European colonialism have become tied to shifting economic and political interests, as well as growing humanitarian movement (Phillips, 2013). This process began mainly after World War I when developed countries saw that less developed countries were in dire need of development assistance. Therefore, they started to aid these countries in order to catch-up on western countries by providing capital and the technological know-how needed. Since then there has been a shift of focus of aid donors from the original developmental aspects to politically influenced strategies. (Deaton, 2015) argued in his book The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, that aid does not work, and that it can accelerate corruption and keep bad leaders in power. However, many prominent scholars viewed his work on aid puzzling and deemed inconclusive because of the different uses and impacts aid has on different recipient countries (Radelet, 2015).
Although extensive research has been conducted in how aid is given and if aid works, little has been done to understand the motives and determinates behind donor countries; thus, how they motivate aid allocation. Guidelines are drawn up by the donor country to ensure that the funds are used accordingly but governments generally give foreign aid for three main purposes; (1) to promote security and stability (2) to improve economic conditions; and (3) to achieve political objectives, also humanitarian movements (Mockaitis, 2015, “Foreign aid” In World Book Student).
For this research paper, we will conduct a comparative study that builds on answering the question: How do Taiwan, Japan and Australia motivate their aid allocation to the Solomon Islands?