Abstract
The foreign aid-corruption relationship is a controversial unresolved topic, which has not been explored adequately in the context of popular and bloody uprisings such as the 2010–2011 Arab Spring. We examine the quantitative effects of the Arab Spring on the foreign aid corruption relationship, using 2SLS and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to address the problems of causality, misspecification, and nonlinearity, which arise in Ordinary Least Squared (OLS) models. We find support for a positive relationship between foreign aid and corruption in Arab States and show that this relationship strengthened following the Arab Spring. Results suggest uprisings against authoritarian regimes can result in counter-productive outcomes when regimes are not overthrown, or simply replaced by a new form of dictatorship, or military coup d’etat.
Notes
1 The World Bank WGI defines political stability index as follows: Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism (PV)—captures perceptions of the likelihood of political instability and/or politically-motivated violence, including terrorism.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Lotfi Hamzi
Lotfi Hamzi (PhD) is Associate Professor in the Strategy and Entrepreneurship Department at Neoma Business School in Reims - France. His researh interests include Geopolitics and International Relations, CSR, Human Rights, International Business.
He published in journals such as Business Process Management Journal, Annals of Operations Research, Management International, Chinese Business Review, Journal of Business and Economics. Dr. Hamzi has also published several book chapters, most recently in Art, Culture & Management (Pearson 2023).
Christopher Williams
Christopher Williams (PhD) is Professor in the Strategy, Entrepreneurship and International Business Department at ESSCA School of Management in Paris. His research interests include international strategy, innovation in international firms and contexts, health R&D and organizational resilience. Before entering academia in 2007, Dr Williams spent two decades in industry, including 10 years with IMS Health. His research appears in journals such as Research Policy, Journal of World Business, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, International Business Review, Journal of Business Research and Journal of International Management. He has also published a range of teaching cases on strategy and innovative issues in international contexts with Ivey Publishing and is author of Venturing in International Firms: Contexts and Cases in a High-Tech World (Routledge, 2018), Management Consultancy for Innovation (Routledge, 2019), Organizing for Resilience (with J. You) (Routledge, 2021) and Strategic Business Case Analysis (Routledge, 2023).
Nahid Anaraki
Nahid Anaraki (PhD) has received her PhD from George Mason University in Virginia and since then she has spent more than 20 years in academia in different regions including U.S., and China. She currently serves as an assistant professor at Shenyang Normal University where she teaches economics, business, and finance courses. She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Finance and Economics, European Economic Letters, International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, and International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance, and Accounting. She has also co-authored book Chapters on corruption and terrorism. Her research interests includes macroeconomics, international finance, economic development, and geopolitics with emphasis on corruption and terrorism.
Chanaka Wijewardena
Chanaka Wijewardena (PhD) serves as a lecturer in International Business at the Adelaide Business School, University of Adelaide. With extensive experience spanning over a decade in the higher education sector across various Australian and international institutions, Chanaka brings a wealth of knowledge to his role.
Dr. Wijewardena has made significant contributions to the field, with multiple research papers published in leading IB journals and co-authorship of several book chapters. His research interests encompass diverse areas such as the internationalization journey of SMEs, with a particular focus on the pre-export phase, immigrant entrepreneurship, social enterprises, and the dynamics between foreign aid and corruption in emerging economies.