Mixed Motives Revisited: Canada's Interest in Development Assistance

Abstract

AbstractThe heuristic model commonly used to explain Canada's interests in development assistance is the mixed-motives approach. These motives are assumed to be philanthropic, economic, and politico-strategic, though there is little agreement among students of Canadian development assistance about which of the three is the most important. The purpose of this article is to examine the orthodox model; it concludes that these motives have little utility in accounting for contemporary aid policies. Instead, drawing on realist and statist theory, this study advances an alternative set of motives that it is argued more accurately accounts for the level and nature of Canada's development assistance policies. Elaborating on “politico-strategic” motives, the article suggests that the Canadian state's interests in prestige, organizational maintenance and limiting real expenditures provide a more proximate explanation of aid policy.