Shaping Perception: A Framing Analysis of Public Discourse and Foreign Aid

Abstract

As the world becomes increasingly globalized and countries become more interdependent, the increased flow of foreign aid can impact how different nations view each other on the global stage. Previous aid literature delves into how aid affects economic growth and whether or not aid has a significant impact on the political institutions of the recipient country. While these studies reveal that aid does not have a significant systemic impact on political institutions, they do not show how the general population in the recipient nation responds to its donors. Therefore, I ask: how does the way a recipient country’s media reports on a donor country change after receiving aid from them? I analyze how recipient countries' media reports on donor nations. Following the media framing literature, analyzing the media helps to understand how recipient citizens react to foreign aid. To accomplish this, I compare factors like headlines, and sentiments in wording before and after the flow of aid was increased. This study also looks at whether there are trends in how certain types of institutions are perceived (e.g., how a democratic government is perceived compared to an authoritarian state). Generally, the recipient country should report on the donor country more positively after acquiring the aid. However, if there are large gaps in the political ideologies of both nations, the aid may not be received well. This study is relevant helps in comprehending how effective aid truly is. It also helps to assess whether aid can be used strategically to grow the donor country’s influence on the international stage.