Small donors in world politics: the role of trust funds in the foreign aid policies of Central and Eastern European donors

Szent-Iványi, B., Reinsberg, B. and Lightfoot, S. (2019) Small donors in world politics: the role of trust funds in the foreign aid policies of Central and Eastern European donors. European Journal of Development Research, 31(3), pp. 663-683. (doi: 10.1057/s41287-018-0175-y)

Abstract

The Central and Eastern European (CEE) EU member states have emerged as new donors of international development assistance since the turn of the millennium. The literature has tended to focus on the bilateral components of these policies, and neglected CEE multilateral aid. This paper contributes to filling this gap by examining how and why CEE donors contribute to trust funds operated by multilateral donors. The aim of the paper is twofold: First, it provides a descriptive account of how CEE countries use trust funds in the allocation of their foreign aid. Second, it explains this allocation using data from qualitative interviews with CEE officials. CEE countries make much less use of trust funds than might be expected. This is due not only to the loss of visibility and control over their resources, but also to how CEE companies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) rarely achieve funding successes at multilateral organisations.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Reinsberg, Dr Bernhard
• Authors: Szent-Iványi, B., Reinsberg, B., and Lightfoot, S.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: European Journal of Development Research
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 0957-8811
• ISSN (Online): 1743-9728
• Published Online: 31 October 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI)
• First Published: First published in European Journal of Development Research 31(3):663-683
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy