Aiding or Abating Repression? Democracy Aid, Civil Society, and Human Rights

• In Event: The Politics of Foreign Aid

Abstract

The impact of foreign aid on the repressive practices of recipient states has been largely understudied, and when examined, the results are quite mixed. We focus on a particular form of aid – democracy assistance – and argue that the relationship between aid and repression is conditioned by trends in the strength of domestic civil society organizations. These groups serve as whistleblowers in society and thus, when increasing in capacity, they can leverage greater aid flows to deter state abuses. Conversely, the government feels compelled (and able) to increase its repressive activity when civil society organizations are in decline but democracy aid is present, which could be used to slow or reverse this backsliding of civil society. OLS and fixed effects regressions of 127 Official Development Assistance-eligible states from 1990-2004 reveal support for our expected interactive effect of changing civil society strength and democracy assistance on levels of repression in recipient states.

Authors

• Jessica Maves Braithwaite, University of Arizona

• Amanda A. Licht, Binghamton University