UNIT 4D: The main justifications for international aid

There is a view that structural inequalities in the world economy can be countered through aid.

International aid helps to overcome the structural advantages that certain states have.

Typically the flow of aid will be from the North to the South and will go some way towards fulfilling the Kantian idea that there is a moral obligation to help less prosperous areas

Aid may help to make up for a percieved advantage that the global North has developed through an historic exploitation of the global South

Aid may benefit the global North. By helping global South, states can become future trading partners with a corresponding increase in mutually beneficial trade 

International aid may include humanitarian assistance in periods of humanitarian crisis, disaster, civil war etc. There is a growing Kantian view that the international community has a responsibility to intervene where emergency intervention is required