How Foreign Aid Can Foster Democratization in Authoritarian Regimes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6230069 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joseph Wright (0000-0003-4429-9035, Pennsylvania State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 552-571 |
| Publication date | 2009-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2009.00386.x |
| OpenAlex | W1970275528 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 137 |
| References cited | 55 |
Donors in recent years have made some foreign aid conditional on progress toward democracy. This study investigates whether and how such conditionality works in practice. The promise of higher aid if the country democratizes only provides an incentive for democratization for political leaders who expect to remain in office after democratization occurs. I show that dictators with large distributional coalitions, who have a good chance of winning fair elections, tend to respond to aid by democratizing. In contrast, aid helps dictators with the smallest distributional coalitions hang on to power. I present a model that shows a dictator's decision calculus, given different a priori support coalitions and varying degrees of aid conditionality, and test the model implications with data from 190 authoritarian regimes in 101 countries from 1960 to 2002
Authoritarianism · Autocracy · Conditionality · Democracy · Democratization · Dictator · Economic system · Economics · Incentive · Microeconomics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Veto · Economic Growth and Development · International Development and Aid · Law · Political Conflict and Governance
Islands of democracy
The Perils of International Capital
Backsliding and reversal
How Autocrats Compete
Autocracy and Redistribution
Foreign aid in the post-colonial Africa
The Futility of Shooting Down Strawmen
Does Foreign Aid Harm Political Rights? Evidence from U.S. Aid
How Dictatorships Work
Democracy, Dictatorship, and Term Limits
Popular Dictatorships
Political Survival and Sovereignty in International Relations
Determinants of Democratization
Transnational Diffusion and Regional Resistance
Does Conditionality Still Work? China’s Development Assistance and Democracy in Africa
Aging gracefully? Why old autocrats hold competitive elections
Aid and democracy promotion in Asia
Strategic Autocracy
Measuring autocratic regime stability
Coup d’état or Coup d'Autocracy? How Coups Impact Democratization, 1950-2008
The Effects of Autocratic Characteristics on Public Opinion toward Democracy Promotion Policies
All Things Work Together for Good
US and Chinese Aid to Africa
Leader Turnover, Volatility, and Political Risk
Aiding Labor
Buying the best favor
Retirement planning for dictators
Aid for taxation and representation? The effect of foreign tax assistance on democracy in the Global South
Is European enlargement policy a form of non-democracy promotion
Opening the black box of international aid
A dynamic modelling of the regional and international political economy of US aid to Pakistan
Analyzing Kim Jong‐un's Survival Strategy from the Comparative Authoritarian Perspective
Regional diffusion of military regimes in sub‐Saharan Africa
The political consequences of dependent financialization
United States democracy assistance in Malaysia
Can you trust a dictator
Mass protests and the resource curse
Explaining the African food riots of 2007–2008
Did Aid Promote Democracy in Africa? The Role of Technical Assistance in Africa’s Transitions
Why there Should be No Political Foreign Aid Curse
Aid effectiveness and donor motives
Can Poor Countries Lobby for More US Bilateral Aid
It’s Domestic Politics, Stupid! EU Democracy Promotion Strategies Meet African Dominant Party Regimes
Coups d’État and Foreign Aid
Foreign Aid and Regime Change
Foreign Aid Responses to Political Liberalization
Political Conditionality and Foreign Aid
When aid builds states
Does foreign aid harm political institutions
Linkage leverage democratization and liberalization
Does aid improve democracy and governance? A meta-regression analysis
Why cronies don’t cry? IMF programs, Chinese lending, and leader survival
Does Foreign Aid Undermine Political Responsiveness? Evidence from Kenya
Combating Coups d’état in Africa, 1950–2014
Citizens and Elites in African Politics
When Does Security Cooperation Increase Foreign Aid Allocation
International Financial Institutions and the Promotion of Autocratic Resilience
Aiding Human Rights? The Effect of U.S., European, and Chinese Development Assistance on Rights Practices in Recipient Countries, 2001 to 2017
Introduction
Democratization via aid? The European Union’s democracy promotion in the Western Balkans 1994–2010
Ticad
Bypassing the Incumbent
Foreign aid volatility and institutional development
Domestic Financial Intermediaries, Dictatorship, and Social Spending
Staying in power
Decrypting the EU’s Good Governance Promotion Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Through Development Cooperation
The Effect of Authorita rian Regime Type on Exchange Rate Policy
How Aid Targets Votes
Strategic Side Payments
More Donors, More Democracy
Bases, Bullets, and Ballots
Does Foreign Aid Support Autocrats, Democrats, or Both
Foreign Aid Allocation Tactics and Democratic Change in Africa
Fixed effects in rare events data
The latent characteristics that structure autocratic rule
Trust in government and American public opinion toward foreign aid
Experimenting in Democracy Promotion
Decentralization reforms in dictatorial regimes as a survival strategy
Ballots, Bullets, and the Bottom Billion
Fair-Weather Allies? Terrorism and the Allocation of US Foreign Aid
Can Western Donors Constrain Repressive Governments? Evidence from Debt Relief Negotiations in Africa
Unilateral Influence on International Bureaucrats
The Pernicious Consequences of UN Security Council Membership
Dependence Networks and the Diffusion of Domestic Political Institutions
Military Size and the Effectiveness of Democracy Assistance
The Effect of Civil Society Organizations and Democratization Aid on Civil War Onset
Foreign Aid as a Counterterrorism Tool
Sovereign Credit and the Fate of Leaders
Aid Modalities Matter
China, Autocratic Patron? An Empirical Investigation of China as a Factor in Autocratic Survival
Authoritarian Aid and Regime Durability
Bypass Aid and Unrest in Autocracies
Remittances and Democratization
Competition and Collaboration in Aid-for-Policy Deals
From Shocks to Waves
Aid Allocation and Targeted Development in an Increasingly Connected World
Exogenous Shocks, Foreign Aid, and Civil War
Aid Is Not Oil
Migration and Foreign Aid
Norm Diffusion and Reputation
The Dialectics of Oppression in Zaire
Paradigms and Sand Castles
Lending Credibility
The IMF and Economic Development
Foreign Aid and Political Reform
Aid, Policies, and Growth
A Panel Data Analysis of the Fungibility of Foreign Aid
The curse of aid
Aid, Growth and Democracy
Aid, Policies, and Growth
Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why?
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
The Logic of Political Survival
Cooperation, Cooptation, and Rebellion Under Dictatorships
Instrument Relevance in Multivariate Linear Models
What is effective aid? How would donors allocate it
Competing models of international lending activity
Coercion, capital, and European states, 990–1990
Authoritarian leaders and multiparty elections in Africa
The Politics of Military Rule in Brazil, 1964-85
Dissent on Development
How Much Is a Seat on the Security Council Worth? Foreign Aid and Bribery at the United Nations
Foreign Aid and Market‐Liberalizing Reform
Life of the Party
Clarifying the Foreign Aid Puzzle
Back to the Future
Understanding Interaction Models
Beyond Mobutu
Double Take
Nonproportional Hazards and Event History Analysis in International Relations
Foreign Aid and Policy Concessions
Does Foreign Aid Promote Democracy
Foreign Aid and Statehood in Africa
Oil, Nontax Revenue, and the Redistributional Foundations of Regime Stability
Diffusion and the International Context of Democratization
Autocratic Audience Costs
Conditioning the Effects of Aid
Political Institutions and Human Rights
Authoritarian Institutions and the Survival of Autocrats
Democratic Transitions
Do Authoritarian Institutions Constrain? How Legislatures Affect Economic Growth and Investment
Making the Most of Statistical Analyses
Oil Wealth and Regime Survival in the Developing World, 1960–1999
Does Foreign Aid Promote the Expansion of Government
Presidential Agenda Control and Spending Policy
The Cost of Shame
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa
Armed Conflict 1946-2001
Comparative Democracy
Some Social Requisites of Democracy
Economic Crisis and Political Regime Change
| Unique citing works | 137 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 8,06 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 136 |