"Baydag uniquely helps us understand the mix of ideational and material motivations for foreign aid. By unpacking when and how these motivations animate decisions, we get a clear sense of not just the domestic politics driving aid decisions but also a more expansive picture of country motivations by extending the analysis to an important set of middle power countries. The book's carefully chosen cases provide a fascinating analysis of interest to international political economy and international relations scholars." (Dustin Tingley, Thomas Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University) "Melis Baydag's book is a valuable and highly convincing comparative analysis of the domestic foundations of middle-sized emerging powers' development policies. It offers a theoretically guided and empirically profound examination of Mexican, Turkish, and South Korean policies by employing the Societal Approach to governmental preference formation. In an exemplary way, the author brings together rigorous hypothesis-testing and deep empirical insights into the role of value-based ideas and material interests in shaping preferences. Therefore, the book makes an important and novel contribution to IPE and to research on the domestic politics of middle-sized emerging powers' international policies." (Stefan A.

Schirm, Professor of International Politics, Ruhr University Bochum) "A groundbreaking study of the development policy strategies of three emerging middle powers: South Korea, Mexico and Turkey. Through a profound analysis of their domestic systems, it explains the variation in their international aid actions based on the definition of their national interests, priorities and preferences. A must-read for International Relations, International Development and Public Policy scholars, students and decision makers." (Jorge A. Schiavon, Professor of International Relations, Universidad Iberoamericana) "The development cooperation world is rapidly changing. Traditional development cooperation among OECD countries is, to a large extent, in crisis. The rise of South-South Cooperation, especially by China, is challenging established paradigms. A crucial dimension in this context is the role of emerging middle powers.

South Korea graduated from developing-country status to become an OECD donor around fifteen years ago. Mexico joined the OECD as early as 1994, but has never become part of the DAC. The same applies to Turkey, although it was a founding member of the OECD. Understanding the domestic determinants of how these donors engage with development cooperation is crucial to identifying the reasons for their differing roles at the international level - especially since their aid policies are shaped, at least in part, by their participation in the OECD framework. This is why Melis Baydag's monograph is an important contribution to current academic and policy-oriented debates." (Stephan Klingebiel, Head of the Research Programme 'Inter- and Transnational Cooperation', German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)).