Media, Bureaucracies, And Foreign Aid: A Comparative Analysis Of The United States, The United Kingdom, Canada, France And Japan (advances In Foreign Policy Analysis)

This is the first sustained comparative examination of the importance of media attention on the provision of economic assistance, suggesting that the news media is an important medium for policy makers to gauge potential domestic political pressures and thus the need to be responsive and even anticipatory in addressing problems real or perceived. Particular attention is paid to the responsiveness of bureaucracies, long held to be among the most insulated institutions of government. Cross-national in scope, this book looks at the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Japan, facilitating a nuanced understanding of the interaction of international and domestic politics as mediated by the media. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 List of Tables......Page 7 Acknowledgments......Page 9 1 Introduction: The Convergence of Three Areas of Study......Page 12 2 Foreign Aid, Foreign Policy and Bureaucratic Politics: Theories and Policy Motives......Page 18 3 A Baseline for Further Analysis: News Media Coverage and Levels of U.S. Development Aid......Page 46 4 A First Point of Comparison: News Coverage and British Foreign Aid......Page 62 5 A Trusted, Elite Bureaucracy: News Coverage and French Foreign Aid......Page 76 6 The Challenge of a Disaggregated Aid Program: News Media Coverage and Japanese Development Aid......Page 90 7 The Multilingual Context of a Smaller Power: News Media Coverage and Canadian Development Aid......Page 114 8 An Event-Driven Aid Program: News Media Coverage and U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance......Page 130 9 Bureaucracy, Democracy, the Media and Foreign Aid......Page 148 Notes......Page 158 References......Page 168 C......Page 186 F......Page 187 L......Page 188 P......Page 189 Z......Page 190 "This is the first sustained comparative examination of the importance of media attention on the provision of economic assistance. Drawing on agency theory, the authors argue that democratic bureaucracies will be responsive to the content of the news media. Bureaucrats, often seen as insulated and unresponsive, adjust their actions to match domestic political demands and the news media serve as a simple, reliable and inexpensive indicator of the domestic political importance of a subject. Cross-national in scope, this book looks at the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Japan, facilitating a nuanced understanding of the interaction of international and domestic politics as mediated by the media. The findings demonstrate clear, substantial and robust evidence of bureaucratic responsiveness to the news media."--Jacket