The Behaviour of Muslim Foreign Aid Donors During the Coronavirus Pandemic: The Case of GCC States

This paper examines the foreign aid behavior of Muslim donors, focusing on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, in responding to the Coronavirus pandemic regionally and globally. It explores the patterns of foreign aid for GCC states using data of four-member countries; Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and UAE. Also, this study unveils the Muslim aid policy framework and offers an overview about the GCC foreign aid. Then, it presents the global response framework by global, Muslim and GCC donors during the pandemic. Through employing qualitative and quantitative methods, this study shows the distribution of GCC aid and provides an adequate analysis about its nature, characteristics, and mechanisms. This paper shows that GCC donors have effectively participated in the global efforts to tackle the pandemic employing their resources and achieving their political and national values. Also, it provides critical view about the GCC’s involvement in fighting the pandemic in terms of policy and internal coordination of aid efforts as well as it suggests some remedial policy actions.