Human Rights, Official Development Assistance (ODA), and Globalization: Quantitative Studies and the Case of South Korea

Abstract

What is the relationship between Official Development Assistance (ODA) and human rights? Applying quantitative and qualitative approaches, we explain the effects of ODA on human rights practices conditional on the level of globalization. Our panel data analysis of 145 recipient countries from 1981 to 2010 shows that ODA helped to improve human rights in the context of advancing globalization. While ODA by itself was found to have a negative impact on human rights, consistent with previous studies, ODA showed a significantly positive impact on human rights in interaction with higher levels of globalization. The case of South Korea - where human rights standards improved throughout the 1990s in the context of both ODA and rapid globalization - sheds light on the nature of this interaction.