Online published on 23 October, 2018.
International diplomacy is making increasing use of its economic component in the form of state-to-state aid and cooperation. This paper provides a historical overview of the evolving philosophy and practice of foreign aid and highlights the difference between aid programmes and loans, which are often misleadingly lumped together in official reports. Although foreign aid is an essential component of the development strategies of poorer states, it is almost never unconditional and is used by richer or more technically advanced nations to project power and serve their own political and economic interests, at times to the detriment of aid recipients.
