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Foreign Aid and Democratic Development in Africa

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  • Simone Dietrich
  • Joseph Wright

Abstract

Over the past two decades, donors increasingly linked foreign aid to democracy objectives in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet systematic research on this topic typically focuses on how aid influences democratic transitions. This study investigates whether and how foreign aid affects the process of democratic consolidation in sub-Saharan Africa by examining two potential mechanisms: (1) the use of aid as leverage to buy political reform, and (2) investment in the opposition. We test these mechanisms using five dependent variables that capture different aspects of democratic consolidation.

Suggested Citation

  • Simone Dietrich & Joseph Wright, 2012. "Foreign Aid and Democratic Development in Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-020, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2012-020
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    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2012-020.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Kersting, Erasmus & Kilby, Christopher, 2014. "Aid and democracy redux," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 125-143.
    2. Molenaers, Nadia & Dellepiane, Sebastian & Faust, Jorg, 2015. "Political Conditionality and Foreign Aid," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 2-12.
    3. Jones, Sam & Tarp, Finn, 2016. "Does foreign aid harm political institutions?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 266-281.
    4. Jones, Sam & Tarp, Finn, 2016. "Does foreign aid harm political institutions?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 266-281.
    5. Jörg Faust & Maria Melody Garcia, 2014. "With or Without Force? European Public Opinion on Democracy Promotion," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 861-878, July.
    6. Nadeem Abdulmalik Abdulrahman Aljonaid & Fengming Qin & Zhaoyong Zhang, 2022. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Sectoral Foreign Aid Inflows on Sectoral Growth: SUR Evidence from Selected Sub-Saharan African and MENA Countries," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-45, February.

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    Keywords

    Democracy; Economic assistance and foreign aid; Survival analysis (Biometry); Voting;
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