On the Political Economy of Foreign Aid and Human Rights in Autocracies

Rabab Batool, Ghashia Kiyani, Saba Obaid and Mian F. Raza
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Rabab Batool: Department of Instructional Design and Technology, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL, USA
Ghashia Kiyani: Department of Political Science, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL, USA
Saba Obaid: Department of Instructional Design and Technology, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL, USA
Mian F. Raza: Departent of Economics, Harper College, Schaumburg, IL, USA

Journal of Development Innovations, 2023, vol. 7, issue 2, 1-27

Abstract: This paper presents a game-theoretic analysis of repression and resistance to show that foreign aid to autocratic governments may increase the incidence of conflict and human rights abuses. We empirically test this simple theory using a two-stage predictor substitution (2SPS) approach in 91 autocracies from 1981 to 2010. With various robustness checks, we find that aid significantly reduces government respect for human rights in autocracies. A further breakdown of autocratic regimes demonstrates that aid increases repression and human rights violations in personalist and single-party regimes more than their military counterparts. These empirical findings demonstrate strong evidence in support of the theoretical prediction that aid is generally ineffective in reducing human rights abuses in autocracies.

Keywords: foreign aid; human rights abuses; autocratic regimes; repression; resistance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 P48 Q34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kqi:journl:2023-12-2-1

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