← All questionsGS4 · 2023 · Ethics Theory ·Ethics of International Aid
QUESTION 1(b)
GS4
10 marks

International aid is an accepted form of helping resource-challenged nations. Comment on ethics in contemporary international aid. Support your answer with suitable examples.

WRITE IN
7 min
150 words

What the examiner wants

Comment on the ethical questions in today's international aid (motives, conditions, dependence, dignity), with examples.

CommentGive your own view on the statement and back it with facts and examples.

Demand-wise check

  1. 1Ethical case for aid: global justice, shared humanity, duty of the better-off≈30 words
  2. 2Ethical concerns: strategic or debt-trap motives, tied aid, conditionality that limits sovereignty, dependence, corruption and leakage≈30 words
  3. 3Examples: India's Vaccine Maitri; aid and loans to Sri Lanka in 2022; criticism of opaque infrastructure loans≈30 words
  4. 4Way forward: needs-based, untied, transparent aid respecting recipient ownership≈30 words

Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.

Answer plan

Intro on aid's purposeEthical justificationEthical concerns with examplesIndia's approachPrinciples for ethical aidConclusion

Where marks usually go

  • Listing types of aid with no ethical evaluation
  • Only praising aid without the 'comment' on its problems

Draw this

  • Two columns: ethical aid vs unethical aid (motive, conditions, outcome)

Value addition

  • ExampleUnder Vaccine Maitri (2021) India supplied COVID-19 vaccines to many countries as grants and commercial supplies.Ministry of External Affairs
  • ThinkerPeter Singer's 'drowning child' argument: if we can prevent suffering at small cost to ourselves, we ought to.Peter Singer, Famine, Affluence and Morality (1972)

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