PI: Bann-Seng Tan, Assistant Professor, Ashoka University
Grant Amount: $2,500
Project Abstract: As the world becomes more authoritarian, we want to understand the nature of authoritarian resilience even if the normative goal is to break autocracies. I study the political imperatives of political regimes, especially democracy and autocracy, as manifested in different policy domains. In international conflict behaviour, one such reflection is the democratic peace or the idea democracies do not wage war against each other.
My current project studies the reaction of autocratic recipients toward offer of foreign aid relief in the aftermath of natural disasters. While natural disasters occur randomly, the reactions of states in their aftermath are distinctively political. I articulate a theory governing such political reactions. I argue authoritarian recipients choose their reaction toward foreign relief strategically. They may facilitate, obstruct or divert foreign relief. Their choice depends on the political relevance of the disaster victims and the need of the regime for performance legitimacy.
To test the theory, I am building an original dataset containing data on natural disasters, foreign aid, and regime characteristics. It is currently missing data on the policy responses of authoritarian regimes to natural disasters and towards foreign relief. A primary outcome of this project, therefore, is to collect, code and enter data on policy responses of states into a machine-readable format. This in turn facilitates subsequent statistical analysis.
This project helps donors anticipate the reactions of aid recipients and in doing so allow them to allocate humanitarian aid where they can do the most good.