Global Korea: foreign aid and national interests in an age of globalization

Abstract

The year 2010 was important for the Republic of Korea (South Korea). It became a member of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development's Development Assistance Committee and hosted the Group of Twenty summit in Seoul in November 2010. The country's rapid emergence as an economic Asian tiger has led to a number of reappraisals of its national interests, national security and international responsibilities by providing Official Development Assistance to help combat global poverty in recipient countries. Integral to the new Global Korea initiative are the contemporary domestic policies of multiculturalism. This paper focuses upon the political and technical critiques of South Korean aid provision and considers the strategic implications of the multicultural debate on the country's national interests and its international responsibilities.

Keywords:

• South Korea
• foreign aid
• poverty reduction
• multiculturalism
• civil society

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the new Faculty Research Fund of Ajou University, South Korea. Part of the work was originally presented at the Western International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention, Los Angeles, on 25 September 2010.

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Iain Watson

Iain Watson is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Development and Cooperation at the Graduate School of International Studies, Ajou University, South Korea. He taught international relations at the Universities of Durham and Newcastle in the UK. He received his PhD from the Department of Politics, University of Newcastle. He previously worked as a Support Worker for Refugee Organisations in the UK voluntary sector. He has published single authored work on civil society, cultural politics and global development issues in the Journal of Contemporary Asia, Geopolitics, Democracy and Nature, and Global Society.