International development cooperation (IDC) is the result of historical imbalances in the development of countries and continues to reflect the balance of power in the international community. Although after the Second World War donor states recognized a moral obligation to participate in post-war reconstruction, simultaneously they were pursuing their own economic interests and strengthening their influence in the recipient countries. Even in today's IDC structure, altruism is rarely an element, as donor states allocate official development assistance (ODA) primarily with the aim of implementing their economic, political and other objectives. The IDC has thus become an institutionalized instrument of power in foreign policy, with the material capacity of the donor state and its strategic orientations determining whether it's used as an instrument of hard or soft power or a combination of both – smart power. Master's thesis extents the existing scientific understanding and argues that even small states, despite their material constraints, can use it as an instrument of smart power, and identifies the characteristics of such practice through designing own analysis model. As an example of small state, it chooses the case of the Republic of Slovenia, which strongly recognizes normative imperatives, but falls among the smallest donor states within the OECD DAC. Despite, its application to the model confirms its use of IDC as an instrument of smart power. This insight brings the concept of IDC up to date and provides a basis for further exploration of the interests and operationalization of IDC by (small) ODA donor states.
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