Il potere del dono. Per un'analisi storico-politica delle politiche di aiuto internazionale.

Contemporary investigations into international relations commonly use models and concepts derived from the thought of thinkers such as Hobbes, Kant and Grotius. The critical analysis of foreign aid practices, which are currently the most important form of international politics towards the periphery of the world, seems to point to a possible additional model of international relations, whose theoretical sources would be found in Marcel Mauss’s ref lection around the concept and the practice of gift. Starting from the critical investigation of the development discourse, which since the end of World War II has shaped and legitimised foreign aid interventions, the essay discusses the relevancy and added value of this possible alternative model.