This proposal bridges the gap between the literature on development cooperation and Radical
Right Populist Parties (RRPPs). RRPPs are no longer single-issue parties; their establishment in
national debates compels them to broaden their topics of interest, with foreign policy emerging
as one of the most salient issues (Barbé & Morillas, 2019). This work explores how RRPPs frame
and approach international institutions, the impact of RRPP governance on development
assistance, and the motivations behind their allocation of bilateral aid. These questions are
particularly pertinent in Europe, where RRPPs have become significant political actors that
influence political outcomes both from the opposition and through various degrees of policy
power (Abou-Chadi & Krause, 2020).
On one hand, some radical right populist leaders oppose any aid provision; others see its utility
in addressing national security issues, while some aim to expand the Official Development
Assistance (ODA) budget to promote national values and worldview (Gómez-Reino, 2019). On
the other hand, despite extensive scholarship on international cooperation and foreign aid
allocation criteria, variations in donor behavior remain underexplored. According to established
literature, countries provide foreign aid either for selfish or altruistic reasons—to pursue political
and economic domestic goals or to aid the neediest countries (Pauselli, 2019). However, recent
research has identified additional predictors of variation in foreign aid allocation that require
further understanding.
This research proposal presents the first quantitative analysis exploring the political outcomes of
RRPP influence on foreign policy. It introduces an innovative identification strategy and a novel
dataset for 22 European countries. The primary hypothesis posits that multilateral aid levels
decline when RRPPs are part of the government due to their anti-liberalism rhetoric. Moreover,
the secondary hypothesis examines the geographical allocation criteria of bilateral aid, proposing
that RRPPs are likely to disregard humanitarian concerns of needy recipients in favor of donor
centric motivations such as geopolitical or economic interests.
