Apologies for cross-posting
*Call for Papers for Virtual Workshop: Foreign aid withdrawals and
suspensions: Why, when, and are they effective? *
Political and/or fiscal infractions by foreign aid recipients raise the
question of whether aid should be suspended or withdrawn as punishment for
such infractions. Both the frequency and impact of aid withdrawals and
suspensions, however, remains understudied. Cross-national data on ODA
struggles to systematically capture aid withdrawals and suspensions, and it
is difficult to isolate the precise impact of aid withdrawals and
suspensions. In this virtual workshop, we propose to investigate four
important questions related to the study of aid withdrawals or suspensions:
Under what conditions is aid withdrawn or suspended?
Existing literature suggests that foreign aid donors struggle to credibly
commit to withdrawing aid, even if aid is conditional. However, there is
evidence that donors may be willing to withdraw or suspend certain types of
aid more frequently (i.e., budget support). What are the key variables
affecting the likelihood of an aid suspension, and who makes the decision
to withdraw aid? How do the conditions of aid withdrawal differ for
bilateral aid, multilateral aid, and bypass aid?
What impact does aid/aid withdrawal or suspension have on
incumbent/opposition support?
Aid withdrawals and suspensions are generally designed to punish current
governments and/or correct policy that donors consider problematic.
However, aid withdrawals and suspensions might also produce backlash and/or
also allow incumbents and/or opposition parties to play into nationalist
sentiments. How do aid withdrawals and suspensions impact public opinion?
What political and economic factors influence or mitigate the effect of aid
withdrawal and suspension on public opinion?
Under what conditions is the withdrawal or suspension of aid effective?
Presumably, the goal of aid withdrawal and suspension is to change policy
and/or incentivize good governance. What evidence, however, is there that
aid withdrawals are actually effective in achieving their stated goals? How
might aid withdrawals and suspension compete with other development
priorities (i.e., poverty reduction?). More broadly, how can scholars
systematically study the impact of aid withdrawals and suspensions?
How does aid withdrawal or suspension differ from aid volatility?
Unpredictable aid flows have been found to negatively impact development
decision-making by recipients and electoral fortunes of recipient
incumbents. Is aid withdrawal and suspension a form of volatility? How can
we theoretically and empirically distinguish intentional aid withdrawal and
suspension from normal bureaucratic changes in aid flows, and is it
analytically useful to do so?
We aim to use this workshop to launch a special issue proposal on the topic
of aid withdrawal and suspension. There are no restrictions in terms of
regions, time periods or methods: historical papers, comparative research,
case studies, and quantitative analysis are all welcome. The workshop will
take place in two parts on two separate days to accommodate multiple
schedules and timezones: Friday, May 21, 2021 from 2-6pm GMT and Monday,
May 24, 2021 from 4-7pm GMT.
We encourage those interested in the event to drop us an email (to
cleo.obrien-udry@yale.edu with the subject line "Aid Withdrawal SI") to let
us know in advance of your interest and likely area of research for
planning purposes.
The submission form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLp9ksNz9_nWphZKQ5b3Y9cdxs-ZWXRtANUQV-kNdY3NgcNg/viewform?usp=sf_link
will
be open until March 31st to submit your abstract. We encourage junior
scholars, women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and scholars
from the global south to submit their work.
*Full papers will be due on Friday, May 14th. *The word limit for papers is
10,000 words.
Please submit your abstracts here: submission form.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLp9ksNz9_nWphZKQ5b3Y9cdxs-ZWXRtANUQV-kNdY3NgcNg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Looking forward to your submissions,
Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham
Cleo O'Brien-Udry, Yale University
Haley Swedlund, Radboud University
Please direct any questions to cleo.obrien-udry@yale.edu.