The Government Corporation as a Tool of Foreign Policy

Abstract

rated. Occasionally, it is more effective than regulation. To a certain extent, the two methods are interchangeable. In some countries they have been applied alternatively or cumulatively to the same fields. In the United States during recent years the establishment of government corporations has met with relatively little resistance from public opinion, particularly since many government corporations were created for emergency purposes and therefore set up on a temporary basis. In regard to their duration, at least, optimistic expectations have been disappointed. Apparently, the history of government corporations could be cited in support of the old French adage: Ce n'est que le provisoire qui dure. Almost all American government corporations have displayed a propensity for permanenceeven before the war economy gave a new impetus to their continuation. Whether under postwar conditions many of these agencies will be dissolved or their most important functions reabsorbed by regular units of the government is a question for academic speculation. Any appraisal of the administrative, social, and economic role of government corporations would be incomplete if it looked at them from the angle of the domestic economy alone. These organizations were given international responsibilities, even before the war. Many of their transactions have more than economic significance. As quasipublic institutions, operated in the twilight zone between government and business, they can be particularly helpful in attaining those ends of foreign policy which, for diplomatic reasons, should not, temporarily at least, be made known to the public and to this extent resemble certain actions taken by the State Department. Foreign policy, of course, is here understood in a broad sense, as dealing not only with cooperation and conflict in international administration but also with those economic and financial means