Abstract
The purpose of this project is to examine how states make use of humanitarian diplomacy to achieve a position of authority in the international community. The Marshall plan – a American program of aid, offered to European countries after the devastation of the Second World War, which contributed strongly to the legitimation of American power – constitutes a well-known early example. Grateful for the generous gift, the recipient countries endowed the United States with political authority in the form of international leadership. More recently, other states have developed a similar strategy, with Norway being a well-known example of a country investing heavily in humanitarian aid and reaping the benefit of above average moral authority in world politics. Other contemporary examples are China, with its Belt and Road Initiative being supported by significant humanitarian programs, and also a number of regional powers in the Islamic world that appear sometimes to be involved a humanitarian bidding competition.
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