A twentieth-century innovation, foreign aid has become a familiar and even expected element in international relations. But scholars and government officials continue to debate why countries provide it: some claim that it is primarily a tool of diplomacy, some argue that it is largely intended to support development in poor countries, and still others point out its myriad newer uses. In her book, Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics (University of Chicago Press, 2006), Prof Carol Lancaster effectively puts this dispute to rest by providing the most comprehensive answer yet to the question of why governments give foreign aid. She argues that because of domestic politics in aid-giving countries, it has always been-and will continue to be-used to achieve a mixture of different goals.

At this ODI, LSE and SOAS event, Prof Lancaster presented and discussed her work on foreign aid.