The American style of development aid to Liberia

Abstract

There is a growing corpus of literature on the critical issue of the various styles used by donors in giving development aid to recipient states in various parts of the world, including Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. This article seeks to contribute to the body of literature by examining the nature and dynamics of the American style of development aid to Liberia and the resulting implications for the latter’s social and economic development. Using the realpolitik model as its analytical framework, the article situates the American style of development aid giving within the broader context of Liberia-United States (US) relations. Based on this foundation, the article then interrogated the flows of US development aid to Liberia from 1946–2013. The findings indicate that the American style of aid giving is ostensibly designed to serve the economic, political, military and strategic interests of the US. In this vein, Liberia is required to serve as a foot soldier in the promotion of American national interests in the former and elsewhere. Accordingly, in terms of the implications for social and economic development, for the past six decades American development aid has not helped to advance the material conditions of Liberia’s subaltern classes. However, in order to change this situation, the US would need to rethink the realpolitik foundation of its development aid programme and the Liberian government would need to press for such a policy rethinking. However, both of these possibilities are highly unlikely, given the US’ determination to prosecute its imperial project and its clientelist relationship with the Liberian government.