Transactional politics and humanitarianism: Ramesh Shrestha

Charity or a deal?

A notion of helping the needy as a virtue based on the principle of humanism existed since ancient times across all religions. The four largest population groups based on religion are the Christians, Hindus, Islam and Buddhists. They all have networks of providing charity to poor communities with interesting differences. In Hinduism providing charity is not related to conversion; any Hindu can convert to another religion without any objection from anyone but you have to be born in a Hindu family to become a Hindu. In Buddhism also charity is not linked to conversion; Buddhism is practiced as a philosophy of life not as a religion. Charity occupies an important position in Islam but it is not linked with conversion; conversion is forcefully linked only to weddings. Contrary to these, networks of Christian charitable missionaries expanded in promotion of Christianity worldwide for conversion during colonial centuries. The European colonists were also providing aid to their colonies, which includes infrastructure building such as roads and railways networks most of which were also for their own benefit for exporting local produce to their home countries. Charities linked to conversion in exchange for aid demonstrates that transactional politics/policy is not new in the humanitarian world. Real charity exists only at the individual, family and community level. (Charity - generosity without expecting anything in return)

Charity or not, the modern idea of foreign aid started post WWII, for reconstruction following the devastation created during the war. It was further expanded at the end of colonialism, which liberated many countries to their new fate and self-determination. This was the beginning of bilateral assistance programmes in the foreign policy of rich countries to assist their former colonies and gradually extended to other poor countries. Meanwhile, multilateral assistance grew with the expansion of the UN system and international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. This was followed by the creation of the Development Assistance Committee in 1961 within the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development with a view to establishing a ‘gold standard’ in foreign aid for development cooperation in developing countries.

It was not a secret that assistance from rich countries was provided to developing countries to counter the Soviet influence. With the demise of the Soviet Union there is a growing shift on how the foreign aid is tied with economic and political interest, thus shifting the idea of aid away from helping those in need to political alliance. This ideological mêlée is becoming transparent in recent years with transnational politics becoming openly transactional, seriously weakening the idea of development cooperation and humanitarianism. Fortunately, there are still few countries in Asia and Europe which never had any colonies that believe in non-transactional foreign assistance to countries and communities in need.

The intense globalisation of trade and digitised economy has fueled extreme competition for resources and trade. It created an atmosphere of leverage for providing foreign aid in exchange for favourable deals such as access to natural resources and labour including outsourcing of manufacturing including technology transfer, which often has been unjustifiably accused as infringement on copyrights. This transactional political system created by modern trade and economy has considerably narrowed the spirit of charity.

Some countries provide assistance based on themes such as basic education or global warming through international organisations while some provide assistance to just a few select countries in any field chosen by the recipient countries. A question people have thought about but never had serious discussion was, is bilateral assistance making countries dependent on foreign aid? There were also opinions that foreign aid can distort local political institutions. In the mid-1990s there was a movement ‘trade not aid’ as the best way of supporting developing economies rather than aid to avoid dependency. Many developed countries waived tariffs from goods imported from developing countries. India and China were cited as the successful examples of ‘trade not aid’ policy. It is a questionable assumption as governance and private sector policies have much to do with their achievements than trade or aid in China and India.

There are two areas which are under the radar on foreign assistance. First, all donors talk about but have universally stayed away from assisting is good governance and reform of administration, which are the most important areas for development, including control of corruption; and the second is direct or indirect links to preset conditionalities. If the bilateral assistance is tied to voting in favour of an agenda sponsored or supported by a donor country in any international forum including in the UNGA or market access or any condition it is no more assistance or aid. It is like buying votes as often happens during elections in many developing countries.

Aid dependency

USAID, created under the foreign assistance act in 1961 is possibly the largest donor with its presence in more than 100 countries to counter the Soviet influence but continued post-Soviet era. The areas of assistance provided by USAID touches almost all fields from democracy, human rights promotion, public health, environment protection, education, food security, military assistance and disaster relief. Assistance from USAID is channelled through various branches of the UN or through a wide range of international and national non-governmental organisations. The abrupt withdrawal of USAID funding in 2025 affected many countries in various aspects of their routine work including closure of thousands of health clinics, essential drug and vaccines supplies. It has highlighted the outcomes of aid dependency transparently. USAID has been providing assistance to countries for several decades, for some countries since the 1960s. What made countries rely on external aid for so long for routine government responsibilities such as basic education and primary health care? Foreign assistance for health, education and food security should never depend on external assistance and if needed it has to be for a specific time period.

One particular area USAID has been active in is assistance for promotion of democracy and human rights, the results of which we have witnessed in several countries over the decades. External assistance in the domestic governance agenda can never be neutral. Many low- and mid-income countries still require technical capacity in improving administrative infrastructure and governance which can be acquired by recruiting expertise from academic institutions with domestic financial resources. Foreign assistance for administrative and governance policy development is likely to focus on donor priorities distorting the local needs.

A controversial foreign assistance programme that has bloated in many low-income countries is the flourishing of non-governmental organisations (NGO). While NGOs play an important role in providing technical assistance and efficient delivery of services it can create parallel systems weakening the government services such as NGO operated health clinics. Such centers also become nodes for anti-government sentiments leading to political issues. It is not the problem of NGOs. The solution is for the government to improve its services.

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Or contact Ramesh at ramesh.chauni@gmail.com


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