Stability and Change in the Foreign Aid Policy: The Role of Institutional Constraints (Working Paper)

Although foreign policy is often characterized by continuity, major reorientations still happen. Extant explanations focus on various shocks as triggers of change. However, literature has yet fully identified the underlying institutional conditions, making a significant foreign policy change likely. This study examines how institutional constraints in various segments of domestic society affect foreign policy change. We analyze the annual change in the official development assistance (ODA) profile among the OECD member states from 1987 to 2016 and found that the number of veto players and independent merit-based bureaucracy substantially affects overseas developmental aid policy stability. We further examine the shift in ODA profile in major donor countries and illustrate how institutional constraints have delayed the ODA profile change. The paper adds to the literature on a foreign policy change by identifying domestic institutional conditions in the donor countries as a cause of change.