With the newly acquired economic heft, the emerging economies such as India, Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia are showing increased interest to offer economic aid to developing countries in a bid to acquire political influence as well as to get preferential access to markets and natural resources. However, the literature has yet to make sense of key characteristics of such a relationship between the emerging economies and other countries of the Global South and its consequences. This panel aims to address those gaps by examining how the emerging economies use foreign aid— including sovereign loans and grants for development projects—as an instrument to establish, maintain, and increase political influence over developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, including with the purpose of getting favourable votes in the UN and other international organizations, as well as to secure access to markets and resources. As these states continue to increase their economic capabilities, this trend is likely to further accentuate in near future. Therefore, it is crucial for the scholars of international political economy to understand this important emerging phenomenon.
We therefore welcome papers that assess the volume and nature of aid, as well as the short-term and long-term objectives that motivate loan provision and concessional credit. In particular, we are looking for contributions that compare the objectives of emerging economies with the objectives of established donors to detect similarities and contrasts in aid provision.
