Youngwan Kim

Preferences and institutions: constraints on European Union foreign aid distribution

Abstract Despite its lack of a military, the European Union’s (EU’s) use of soft power is increasingly influential in world affairs. Understanding the politics behind setting the EU’s foreign aid priorities is a substantively important question. Applying a combination of factor analysis and time-series cross-sectional analysis of foreign aid received by 151 countries between 1981 and 2011, we examine the factors associated with EU foreign aid disbursement. We find that far from being a tool of the larger member states, EU foreign aid policy is most similar to the foreign aid policies of the smaller Nordic members, Ireland and the Netherlands. Moreover, we find that measures of the human rights records of potential recipients significantly predict the amount of aid the EU disburses to those countries. Our findings shed light on the sources of EU foreign policy actions as well as on the politics within the EU.

Non-governmental organizations and economic sanctionsi:

How do non-governmental organizations (NGOs) affect sanction policies? Using two datasets of sanctions and NGOs, we study whether and how US-based NGOs working in a target state can influence the threat and implementation of sanctions initiated by the USA. At the threat stage, the sender government tends to perceive NGOs as a signaling device such that NGOs increase the probability of sanction threat. At the imposition stage, the presence of NGOs in a target state also increases the likelihood of a sender state imposing sanctions. In addition, the sender state tends to implement costly sanctions when NGOs have more field operations in target states. This study provides a systematic explanation of the relationship between NGOs and sanction threat and implementation.

The Effects of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief on the Economies and Domestic Politics of Focus Countries

Abstract President G.W. Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been rated as one of the successful US aid interventions of recent decades. We investigate the impact of PEPFAR on economic development, democracy, and human rights by comparing focus countries that received PEPFAR with other countries that did not receive PEPFAR from 2003 to 2008. Moreover, we examine specific changes made within focus countries after the implementation of PEPFAR using Difference-in-Difference estimation. Our results show that PEPFAR did improve economic conditions in focus countries but had a limited impact on political conditions, that is, on democracy and human rights.

Analysis of Successful International Development Cooperation Project - In Case of Korean Hospital at El Alto in Bolivia -

본 연구는 볼리비아 엘알토 한국병원 지원 사업 사례를 중심으로 국제개발협력 사업의 평가와 성공 요인을 분석하였다. 볼리비아 엘알토 한국병원은 1995년 1차 사업을 시작하여 현재 3차 병원 확장 사업을 진행하고 있는 국제개발협력 사업으로, 지역사회에 양질의 의료 서비스를 제공하는 성공적 사업의 하나로 평가받고 있다. 본 연구는 엘알토 한국 병원을 이용하는 환자들을 대상으로 설문조사를 진행하여 환자들의 만족도를 측정하고 KOICA와 엘알토 한국병원 관계자와의 인터뷰를 통해서 성공 요인을 분석하였다. 그 결과, 엘알토 지역 수요에 대한 적절한 파악이 반영된 사업 기획, 단계별 평가 실시 및 평가 결과가 반영된 사업 수행, 공여국과 수원국, 국제사회 주요 행위자들과의 유기적인 파트너십 구축이 엘알토 한국병원의 주요 성공요인으로 파악되었다.