| 2013,the year when the Coalition government came into power,witnessed a series of changes of Australian aid:the repeated cut of aid budget,the integration of the Australian Agency for International Development into the Department of Foreign affairs and Trade,and geographical concentration of more assistance on the Indian-Pacific region.What caused the changes of Australian aid policy?In recent years,few studies have been conducted on Australian aid policies at home and abroad.Therefore,this article attempts to enrich relevant research fields through the study of Australian aid motivations,and try to answer above question.This article believes that aid policy is a part of foreign policy,and it is one of diplomacy tools used by policy makers.In this article,the theory analysis of aid motivation has been divided into three levels:economic,political,and moral.Through the case studies of Australian aid policy to Southeast Asian countries,this thesis tries to find out the detailed explanation of aid motivations behind Canberra.This study finds that the analysis of Australian aid motivations is complex.A historical interpretation of Australian aid to Southeast Asian countries found that before 1996,the motivation behind Canberra's assistance behaviors was relatively simple.Political motives guided aid policy during the early period of Cold War for the sake of curbing communist demand.From the late 1870s to 1996,the sluggish economy in Australia made economic factors dominant.After 1996,due to changes in the situation at home and abroad,Australian aid towards Southeast Asian countries became more complex.Therefore,it is difficult to analyze the dominant motivation of Australian aid.Through above analysis,this thesis concludes that the Australian government regards foreign aid as a tool of foreign policy,which contains complicated motivations such as political,economic,and moral ones.However,in different historical periods,there are different aid motivations. |
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