a contest of beneficence 101
(Bain et al. 1999 ; Goodman 1999 ). Observers note that President Carlos
Menem and his advisers believed that “one of the best ways to top tier sta-
tus is participation in international peacekeeping operations” (Evers 1997 ).
Similarly, a 1951 governmental review of Dutch technical assistance mis-
sions concluded that such programs are likely to “establish the Dutch name”
and “increase the respect for the Netherlands, with consequences in many
areas” (Van der Veen 2002 , 23 ; Arens 2003 , 458 ). In his review of Nordic
participation in peacekeeping missions, Jakobsen ( 2006 , 386 ) similarly con-
cludes that “the rise of the Nordic model can, in short, be explained by the
fact that it generated power, pride and prestige on the cheap.” Conversely,
Norwegian parliament members emphasized the need to manage foreign
aid in a way that maximized the country’s reputation, while others warned
that “development aid is a serious international task, and must not be
treated as some form of international competition between nations where
the most important consideration is one’s rank in a table,” highlighting the
pressures toward a contest of beneficence (Van der Veen 2002 , 26 – 27 ).
More recently, Barnett’s ( 2005 ) analysis of the post- tsunami humanitar-
ian effort similarly identifies prosociality as a “status category” pushing
countries toward a contest of beneficence. Similarly, Brazilian assistance to
Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake has been analyzed as an
attempt to gain “prestige and international acknowledgement to Brazilian
involvement in global affairs,” bolstering Brazil’s ambition “to take center
stage in multilateral politics” and gain a seat at the UN Security Coun-
cil (Hirst 2010 , 2 ). Less predictable donations to Haiti arrived from many
African countries more often found on the receiving end of international
prosociality. This move from recipient to donor has been wrapped with
prestige discourse as well. Guillaume Lacaille, an analyst for the Interna-
tional Crisis Group in Nairobi, analyzed African donations as a “matter of
prestige.... It doesn’t always go well with the people, though. When this
was decided, a lot of Congolese reacted negatively to it. But the govern-
ment has said, this is a matter of pride, we are an African country, and we
have to give something” (Baldauf 2010 ). The antiaid demonstrations in
Congo emphasize the opportunity costs of international prosociality and
the potential for a Gatsby effect for poorer do- gooders.
These are but several examples of many allusions to prestige consider-
ations in the prosociality discourse. However, in the absence of the con-
spicuous consumption model, the connection between prosociality and
prestige remains unspecified. Once we understand prosociality as a form
of conspicuous consumption, this narrative of prestige receives clearer
