Aid in the age of Amazon: Imperial logics, Pacific resistance and an alternate paradigm

Abstract

Recent disruptions in international aid, including geopolitics, technological innovation, and budget cuts, have prompted debate about paradigm shift. Drawing on critical Pacific scholarship and regional experience, we argue these changes represent consolidation rather than transformation, intensifying imperial logics that have long defined aid relationships. Donor dominance persists, private actors proliferate, and Pacific agency remains constrained with the aid sector. Yet an alternative paradigm already exists. Through resistance, recalibration, and pragmatic diplomacy, Pacific states and societies have long asserted development as relational, sovereign, and self‐determined. We argue real transformation will not come from within the system, but from joining those pushing beyond it.