Power and Populism in Foreign Aid: Twitter as a Tool of Strategic Communication

• In Event: The Political Economy of Aid from the Recipient Perspective

Abstract

This study investigates the use of Twitter as a tool of strategic communication in foreign aid negotiations, particularly via populist rhetoric. The literature on foreign aid bargaining has focused on the structural conditions affecting donor-recipient relations (Swedlund, 2017; Swedlund and Lierl, 2019; Whitfield, 2009; Whitfield and Fraser, 2009), overlooking the potential role of populist rhetoric in shaping these relations. In this project, we use computational analysis of data collected through the Twitter API to investigate how donor and recipient officials are using the social media platform to influence aid negotiations in eleven African countries—Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Tanzania—between 2018 and 2022. Specifically, we use automated content analysis and machine learning to identify at scale those instances in which officials use Twitter for strategic communication in the context of aid negotiations. We then use manual annotations to classify the exact strategic communication used in each instance. Our approach allows us to systematically analyze the strategic use of narratives to reveal how recipient countries use strategic communication to exert power over donors, and how donors respond, even when structural conditions are highly asymmetric. And, by exploiting the variation in local context, donor-recipient relations, the type and scale of aid negotiated across the eleven countries and multitude of donor organizations, we can further shed light on the specific mechanisms behind the strategic use of Twitter in the context of foreign aid negotiations.

Authors

• Susanna Campbell, American University

• Karsten Donnay, University of Zurich

• Abrehet Gebremedhin, American University

• Haley Swedlund, Radboud University Nijmegen