International Development Assistance on «Global Britain» Service

• Main Author: Kira Godovanyuk
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Institute of Europe Russian Academy of Sciences 2020-04-01
• Series: Научно-аналитический вестник Института Европы РАН
• Subjects: foreign commonwealth and development office; «global britain»; uk foreign policy; international aid; national interests; dfid; united kingdom
• Online Access: http://vestnikieran.instituteofeurope.ru/images/Godovanyuk42020.pdf

On the 16 of June, 2020 B. Johnson announced that the Department for International Development (DFID) is to merge into a new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office which will deal with the identification of priorities for international assistance and financial management. The reform has drawn strong criticism from the public. In a bid to align its international aid with the foreign policy objective, the UK government pursues spending optimization and seeks to redefine decision making processes and strategies of its foreign policy in a new highly competitive environment. The author concludes that the discourse caused by the reform about «Global Britain» whole new mission on the global arena is attributed to the ambition to bolster its international influence after exit from the EU. The closure of the Department of the International Development highlights the end of the 10-year's inter-party consensus on the place and the role of international aid in the UK foreign policy. In light of the new developments, the international aid is to contribute, in the first place, to the achievements of international interests in security, trade and investment. The latter becomes a hot issue due to the negative economic effect of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic for the UK.