Brazil and India - Exploring Motivations of 'New' Humanitarian Donors

Abstract: This study explores motivations of two ‘new’ humanitarian donors, Brazil and India, byanalysing debates from two of the agents in each country involved in the processesregarding humanitarian assistance - the Brazilian Federal Senate and the BrazilianMinistry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Indian Ministry of External Affairs andCouncil of States - by means of a thematic analysis. This resulted in the identification ofmotivating factors for humanitarian spending in the form of themes. For Brazil thethemes Priority, Humanitarianism, Regional Solidarity and International Integrationcould be identified. For India the themes identified were: Security Interests,Humanitarianism, Good Neighbour, Competence and Preparedness.By comparing the findings of this study with the ‘Seven Frames relevant to Foreign AidPolicy’ of Western donors established by van der Veen, it could be concluded that newdonors and Western donors share similar interests in the areas of power, security,international reputation and humanitarianism, which guide them as motivating factors indecisions regarding humanitarian assistance. Nonetheless, there are also differences forexample with regards to economic interests and issues of obligation, which are presentfor Western donors, but could not be identified in motivations of the new donors Braziland India. The study concludes that the framework established by van der Veen forWestern donors is not sufficient to explain motivations of new donors in the area ofhumanitarian assistance. Instead, a new framework is necessary to explore the differingapproaches and motivations of both Western and new donors in their complexity.