Swedish and international foreign aid’s impact on democratization processes: A qualitative study on Botswana and Uganda

Abstract: Democracy promotion has received increased attention within development cooperation during the 21st century. The purpose of this study is to investigate foreign aid’s impact on democratization processes. Previous similar studies have mostly conducted quantitative methods or qualitative methods investigating foreign aid’s impact on economic outcomes. This study conducts a qualitative method and investigates previous theories and empirical evidence on foreign aid and democratization processes, particularly investigating the impact of Swedish foreign aid in Botswana and Uganda. The paper finds conflicting evidence of the effectiveness of foreign aid in facilitating democratization processes. The evidence suggests that Swedish and international foreign aid have had a positive impact on the ongoing democratization processes in Botswana whereas it has had little effect in stopping a democratic backslide in Uganda. The paper’s findings suggest that the domestic environments in recipient countries greatly impacts the effectiveness of foreign aid.