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National interests and the paradox of foreign aid under austerity: Conservative governments and the domestic politics of international development since 2010

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Abstract

Since 2010, successive Conservative-led Coalition and Conservative governments in the UK have imposed domestic austerity while maintaining foreign aid commitments. They have done so in the teeth of considerable hostility from influential sections of the media, many Conservative MPs and party members, and large sections of the voting public. This paper explains this apparently paradoxical position by analysing these governments’ increasingly explicit stance that aid serves ‘the national interest’ in a variety of ways. While not a new message from donors, post-2010 Conservative governments have significantly powered up this narrative. The post-Brexit referendum government is less committed to foreign aid, and it may well institute cuts following changes in legislation. In the meantime, however, it too has focused on shifting discourse and substance towards a more insistent articulation and pursuit of ‘the national interest’.

Description

Keywords

Brexit, austerity, Conservatives, DfID, foreign aid, national interest

Journal Title

Geographical Journal

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0016-7398
1475-4959

Volume Title

183

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell