Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T06:07:04.916Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Religion and Foreign Aid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2018

Alexandra Domike Blackman
Alexandra Domike Blackman*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Alexandra Domike Blackman, Stanford University, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Foreign aid allocations represent one of several important economic policy tools used by governments to realize their foreign policy objectives. Using a conjoint survey of respondents in the United States, this paper shows that recipient country religion is a significant determinant of individual-level foreign aid preferences. In particular, respondents express a preference for giving to Christian-majority countries in contrast to Muslim- or Buddhist-majority countries. This effect is comparable with that of other important determinants of support for foreign aid, such as a country's status as a U.S. ally or trade partner. Importantly, the preference for Christian recipient countries is especially pronounced among Christian, and most notably Evangelical Christian, respondents. This paper explores two potential mechanisms for the effect of religion: country religion as a heuristic and an individual-level preference for giving to co-religionists.

Type
Article
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 522 - 552
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adida, Claire, Laitin, David, and Valfort, Marie-Anne. 2015. “Religious Homophily in A Secular Country: Evidence From A Voting Game in France.” Economic Inquiry 53(2):1187–1206.Google Scholar
Akram, Tanweer. 2003. “The International Foreign aid Regime: Who Gets Foreign aid and how Much?” Applied Economics 35:1351–1356.Google Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, and Dollar, David. 2000. “Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why?” Journal of Economic Growth 5(1):33–63.Google Scholar
Anderson, Lisa, Mellor, Jennifer, and Milyo, Jeffrey. 2010. “Did the Devil Make Them Do It? The Effects of Religion in Public Goods and Trust Games.” Kyklos 63(2):163–175.Google Scholar
Baron, Kevin, Canellos, Peter, Kranish, Michael, and Stockman, Farah. 2006. “Bush brings faith to foreign aid.” The Boston Globe, October 8, 2006.Google Scholar
Bauhr, Monika, Charron, Nicholas, and Nasiritousi, Naghmeh. 2013. “Does Corruption Cause Aid Fatigue? Public Opinion and the Aid-Corruption Paradox.” International Studies Quarterly 57: 568–579.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, Jody, Francia, Peter, and Morris, Jonathan. 2008. “A Clash of Civilizations? The Influence of Religion on Public Opinion of U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East.” Political Research Quarterly 61(2):171–179.Google Scholar
Bechtel, Michael, Hainmueller, Jens, and Margalit, Yotam. 2014. “Preferences for International Redistribution: The Divide Over the Eurozone Bailouts.” American Journal of Political Science 58(4):835–856.Google Scholar
Bellin, Eva. 2008. “Faith in Politics: New Trends in the Study of Religion and Politics.” World Politics 60(2):315–347.Google Scholar
Benjamin, Daniel, Choi, James, and Fisher, Geoffrey. 2010. “Religious Identity and Economic Behavior.” NBER Working Paper 15925.Google Scholar
Bermeo, Sarah Blodgett, and Leblang, David. 2015. “Migration and Foreign Aid.” International Organization 69(3):627–657.Google Scholar
Bonilla, Tabitha, and Grimmer, Justin. 2013. “Elevated Threat Levels and Decreased Expectations: How Democracy Handles Terrorist Threats.” Poetics 41:650–669.Google Scholar
Busby, Joshua. 2007. “Bono Made Jesse Helms cry: International Norm Take-up and the Jubilee 2000 Campaign for Debt Relief.” International Studies Quarterly 51(2):247–275.Google Scholar
Bush, George W. 2001a. “Executive Order 13198: Agency Responsibilities With Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives,” January 29, 2001. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=45708 (Accessed on December 1, 2017).Google Scholar
Bush, George W. 2001b. “Executive Order 13199: Establishment of White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives,” January 29, 2001. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=61481 (Accessed on December 1, 2017).Google Scholar
Bush, George W. 2002a. “Executive Order 13279: Equal Protection of the Laws for Faith-Based and Community Organizations,” December 12, 2002. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=61375 (Accessed on December 1, 2017).Google Scholar
Bush, George W. 2002b. “Executive Order 13280: Responsibilities of the Department of Agriculture and the Agency for International Development With Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives,” December 12, 2002. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=61376 (Accessed on December 1, 2017).Google Scholar
Chen, Daniel, and Lind, Jo Thori. 2007. “Religion, Welfare Politics, and Church-State Separation.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 42(1):42–52.Google Scholar
Clinton, Hillary. 2009. “Senate Confirmation Hearing: Hillary Clinton.” The New York Times, January 13, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/politics/13text-clinton.html (Accessed on December 1, 2017).Google Scholar
Corstange, Daniel. 2012. “Religion, Pluralism, and Iconography in the Public Sphere: Theory and Evidence From Lebanon.” World Politics 64(1):116–160.Google Scholar
De La, O, Ana, , and Rodden, Jonathan. 2008. “Does Religion Distract the Poor?: Income and Issue Voting Around the World.” Comparative Political Studies 41:437–476.Google Scholar
Fearon, James. 1994. “Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes.” American Political Science Review 88(3):577–592.Google Scholar
Fletcher, Michael. 2006. “Bush Has Quietly Tripled Aid to Africa.” The Washington Post, December 31, 2006.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 2001. “Religion as an Overlooked Element of International Relations.” International Studies Review 3(3):53–73.Google Scholar
Galen, Luke. 2012. “Does Religious Belief Promote Prosociality? A Critical Examination.” Psychological Bulletin 138:876–906.Google Scholar
Grzymala-Busse, Anna. 2012. “Why Comparative Politics Should Take Religion (More) Seriously.” Annual Review of Political Science 15:421–442.Google Scholar
Hackett, Conrad, and Lindsay, D. Michael. 2008. “Measuring Evangelicalism: Consequences of Different Operationalization Strategies.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 47(3):499–514.Google Scholar
Hainmueller, Jens, and Hopkins, Daniel. 2015. “The Hidden American Immigration Consensus: A Conjoint Analysis of Attitudes Toward Immigrants.” American Journal of Political Science 59(3):529–548.Google Scholar
Hainmueller, Jens, Hopkins, Daniel, and Yamamoto, Teppei. 2014. “Causal Inference in Conjoint Analysis: Understanding Multi-Dimensional Choices via Stated Preference Experiments.” Political Analysis 22:1–30.Google Scholar
Hainmueller, Jens, and Hiscox, Michael. 2006. “Learning to Love Globalization: Education and Individual Attitudes Toward International Trade.” International Organization 60(2):469–498.Google Scholar
Jelen, Ted. 1994. “Religion and Foreign Policy Attitudes: Exploring the Effects of Denomination and Doctrine.” American Politics Research 22: 382–400.Google Scholar
Johns, Robert, and Davies, Graeme A. M.. 2012. “Democratic Peace or Clash of Civilizations? Target States and Support for War in Britain and the United States.” Journal of Politics 74(4):1038–1052.Google Scholar
Kalkan, Kerem Ozan, Layman, Geoffrey, and Uslaner, Eric. 2009. “‘Band of Others?’ Attitudes Toward Muslims in Contemporary American Society.” Journal of Politics 71(3):1–16.Google Scholar
Kam, Cindy, and Kinder, Donald. 2007. “Terror and Ethnocentrism: Foundations of American Support for the War on Terrorism.” Journal of Politics 69(2):320–338.Google Scholar
Kristof, Nicholas. 2005. “Bleeding hearts of the World, Unite!” The New York Times, November 6, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/opinion/bleeding-hearts-of-the-world-unite-721450.html (Accessed on August 19, 2015).Google Scholar
Lacina, Bethany, and Lee, Charlotte. 2013. “Culture Clash or Democratic Peace?: Results of A Survey Experiment on the Effect of Religious Culture and Regime Type on Foreign Policy Opinion Formation.” Foreign Policy Analysis 9:143–170.Google Scholar
Lau, Richard, and Redlawsk, David. 2001. “Advantages and Disadvantages of Cognitive Heuristics in Political Decision Making.” American Journal of Political Science 45(4):951–971.Google Scholar
Lumsdaine, David. 1993. Moral Vision in International Politics: The Foreign aid Regime 1949–1989. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Maizels, Alfred, and Nissanke, Machiko. 1984. “Motivation for Aid to Developing Countries.” World Development 12(9):879–900.Google Scholar
Maoz, Zeev, and Henderson, Errol A.. 2013. “The World Religion Dataset, 1945–2010: Logic, Estimates, and Trends.” International Interactions 39(3):265–291.Google Scholar
Margolis, Michele, and Sances, Michael. 2013. “Who Really Gives? Partisanship and Charitable Giving in the United States.” Working paper.Google Scholar
Milner, Helen, and Tingley, Dustin. 2011. “Who Supports Global Economic Engagement? The Sources of Preferences in American Foreign Economic Policy.” International Organization 65(1):37–68.Google Scholar
Milner, Helen, and Tingley, Dustin. 2013a. “Public Opinion and Foreign Aid: A Review Essay.” International Interactions 39(3):389–401.Google Scholar
Milner, Helen, and Tingley, Dustin. 2013b. “The Choice for Multilateralism: Foreign Aid and American Foreign Policy.” Review of International Organizations 8(3):313–341.Google Scholar
Mondak, Jeffrey. 1993. “Public Opinion and Heuristic Processing of Source Cues.” Political Behavior 5(2):167–192.Google Scholar
Nelson, Lynn D. 1988. “Religion and Foreign Aid Provision: A Comparative Analysis of Advanced Market Nations.” Sociological Analysis 49:49S–63S.Google Scholar
Norenzayan, Ara, and Shariff, Azim. 2008. “The Origin and Evolution of Religious Prosociality.” Science 322:58–62.Google Scholar
Orbell, John, Goldman, Marion, Mulford, Matthew, and Dawes, Robyn. 1992. “Religion, Context, and Constraint Towards Strangers.” Rationality and Society 4(3):291–307.Google Scholar
Panagopoulos, Costas. 2006. “Arab and Muslim Americans and Islam in the Aftermath of 9/11.” Public Opinion Quarterly 70(4):608–624.Google Scholar
Paxton, Pamela, and Knack, Stephen. 2011. “Individual and Country-Level Factors Affecting Support for Foreign aid.” International Political Science Review 33(2):171–192.Google Scholar
Prather, Lauren. 2014a. “Fighting Poverty at Home and Abroad: Explaining Attitudes Towards Redistribution.” Working Paper.Google Scholar
Prather, Lauren. 2014b. “Values at the Water's Edge: Social Welfare Values and Foreign Aid.” Working Paper.Google Scholar
Roemer, John. 1998. “Why the Poor do not Expropriate the Rich: An old Argument in new Garb.” Journal of Public Economics 70:399–424.Google Scholar
Ruffle, Bradley, and Sosis, Richard. 2006. “Cooperation and the in-Group-out-Group Bias: A Field Test on Israeli Kibbutz Members and City Residents.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 60:147–163.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth, and Stasavage, David. 2006. “Religion and Preferences for Social Insurance.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science 1:255–286.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth, and Slaughter, Matthew. 2001. “What Determines Individual Trade-Policy Preferences?” Journal of International Economics 54(2):267–292.Google Scholar
Sides, John, and Gross, Kimberly. 2013. “Stereotypes of Muslims and Support for the War on Terror.” Journal of Politics 75(3):583–598.Google Scholar
Shortle, Allyson, and Gaddie, Ronald Keith. 2015. “Religious Nationalism and Perceptions of Muslims and Islam.” Politics and Religion 8:435–457.Google Scholar
Smeltz, Dina, Daalder, Ivo, and Kafura, Craig. 2014. Foreign Policy in the Age of Retrenchment: Results of the 2014 Chicago Council Survey of American Public Opinion and US Foreign Policy. Chicago, IL: The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.Google Scholar
Steensland, Brian, Park, Jerry, Regnerus, Mark, Robinson, Lynn, Wilcox, W. Bradford, and Woodberry, Robert. 2000. “The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art.” Social Forces 79(1):291–318.Google Scholar
Stevenson, Richard. 2002. “In Order, President Eases Limits on U.S. Aid to Religious Groups.” The New York Times, December 13, 2002. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/13/us/in-order-president-eases-limits-on-us-aid-to-religious-groups.html (Accessed on August 19, 2015).Google Scholar
Tan, Jonathan. 2006. “Religion and Social Preferences: An Experimental Study.” Economic Letters 90:60–67.Google Scholar
Taormina, Robert, and Messick, David. 1983. “Deservingness for Foreign Aid: Effects of Need, Similarity, and Estimated Effectiveness.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 13(5):371–391.Google Scholar
The New York Times Editorial Desk. 2003. “Misguided Faith on AIDS.” The New York Times}, October 15, 2003. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/15/opinion/misguided-faith-on-aids.html (Accessed on August 19, 2015).Google Scholar
Tomz, Michael. 2007. “Domestic Audience Costs in International Relations: An Experimental Approach.” International Organization 61:821–840.Google Scholar
Wald, Kenneth, Silverman, Adam, and Fridy, Kevin. 2005. “Making Sense of Religion in Political Life.” Annual Review of Political Science 8:121–143.Google Scholar
Warner, Carolyn, Kilinc, Ramazan, Hale, Christopher, Cohen, Adam, and Johnson, Kathryn. 2015. “Religion and Public Goods Provision: Experimental and Interview Evidence From Catholicism and Islam.” Comparative Politics 47(2):189–209.Google Scholar
Warner, Carolyn, and Walker, Stephen. 2011. “Thinking About the Role of Religion in Foreign Policy: A Framework for Analysis.” Foreign Policy Analysis 7:113–135.Google Scholar
Weeks, Jessica. 2008. “Autocratic Audience Costs: Regime Type and Signaling Resolve.” International Organization 62(1):35–64.Google Scholar
Wilcox, Clyde, and Sigelman, Lee. 2001. “Political Mobilization in the Pews: Religious Contacting and Electoral Turnout.” Social Science Quarterly 82(3):524–535.Google Scholar
Younas, Javed. 2008. “Motivations for Bilateral aid Allocation: Altruism or Trade Benefits.” European Journal of Political Economy 24:661–674.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Blackman supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Blackman supplementary material(File)
File 468.9 KB