United States Foreign Aid Research Articles

Building Democracy In Latin America: United States Foreign Aid For Haiti

This article provides an overview, implications, and challenges that arise at the intersection of international political, economic, social, and environmental dilemmas that intervened in Haiti's efforts to build the stability of its democracy during the pre-Cold War period until recently. By providing United States Agency for International Development (USAID)'s trend of democratic assistance to the Latin American region and the presidential leadership model that may explain Haiti's failure to combat political instability, this article has positioned the Haitian government as a contributor to Haiti's permanent crisis, with the role of an elite society taking control of the interim government system and the civil society as the party to bear the consequences. The occurrence of a devastating earthquake has tested Haiti and resulted in more and more Haitians migrating to the United States. This condition exacerbated Haiti's status as a "failed state" and the need for sustained commitment and long-term international stabilization efforts. By applying the analytical explanatory method, the results show that if Haiti is to escape its permanent political instability, a more comprehensive policy-making paradigm shift is needed beyond just democratic assistance from USAID. Keywords: Democratic Aid, Haiti, USAID, Democracy, Foreign Aid. Artikel ini mengulas ikhtisar, implikasi, dan tantangan yang muncul di persimpangan dilema politik, ekonomi, sosial, dan lingkungan internasional yang mengintervensi Haiti dalam upaya membangun stabilitas demokrasinya selama periode sebelum Perang Dingin hingga baru-baru ini. Dengan menyediakan tren bantuan demokratis Badan Pembangunan Internasional Amerika Serikat (USAID) ke wilayah Amerika Latin dan model kepemimpinan presiden yang mungkin bisa menjadi alasan atas tidak berhasilnya Haiti melawan ketidakstabilan politik, artikel ini telah menempatkan pemerintah Haiti sebagai kontributor krisis permanen Haiti, dengan peran masyarakat elit yang mengambil alih kontrol sistem pemerintahan sementara masyarakat sipil menjadi pihak menanggung akibatnya. Adapun terjadinya gempa bumi dahsyat telah menguji Haiti dan mengakibatkan semakin banyak penduduk Haiti yang bermigrasi ke Amerika Serikat. Kondisi ini kemudian memperburuk status Haiti sebagai sebuah "negara gagal" dan perlunya komitmen berkelanjutan serta upaya stabilisasi internasional berjangka panjang. Dengan menerapkan metode eksplanatif secara analitis, hasil menunjukkan bahwa jika Haiti ingin melepaskan diri dari ketidakstabilan politik permanennya, diperlukan pergeseran paradigma pembuat kebijakan yang lebih komprehensif daripada hanya sekedar bantuan demokratis dari USAID. Kata-kata kunci: Bantuan Demokratis, Haiti, USAID, Demokrasi, Bantuan Luar Negeri.

Bureaucracy at the Border: The Fragmentation of United States Foreign Aid

Foreign policy scholars often assume that leaders pursue a national interest. However, states often spread their foreign policy authority thinly across bureaucracies and programs with overlapping or conflicting interests. This is especially pronounced in foreign aid, which serves a clear foreign policy purpose but is often mired in bureaucracy. Why is foreign aid often so fragmented? Focusing on the United States, I explain foreign aid fragmentation as a byproduct of domestic politics. When moderate legislators are ideologically diffuse, leadership must persuade them to support a foreign aid agenda by offering pet projects. This increases aid’s fragmentation. In contrast, when moderates are relatively homogeneous, leaders can gather support through more traditional compromise, decreasing the need for fragmented pet projects. I test this theory using a mixed-methods approach, employing a novel agency-level dataset of US foreign aid appropriations and a case study of a 1992 act delivering aid to the former Soviet Union.

The Distribution Of United States Foreign Aid

Over the last few decades, the United States has largely provided foreign aid based on political interests instead of humanitarian needs. Conditions for providing aid include enforcing foreign recipients to use the aid on American products and prioritizing aid to countries with a larger presence in popular media platforms. Thus, foreign assistance is not being directed to countries that need it the most, which can significantly affect political instability in the foreign country as well as exacerbate any existing refugee crisis. On a more macro-scale, the United States’ failure to provide aid to the neediest also ultimately harms its sphere of influence, especially when undemocratic foreign countries end up addressing the humanitarian gap that the United States could have fulfilled. This paper aims to elucidate the global scale of this problem and propose some strategies to address this issue from a financial and political point of view.

Examination of the Effectiveness of United States Foreign Aid on Human Development in United Nations Least Developed Countries: An Empirical Study

The aim of this article is to examine the effectiveness of United States (U.S.) foreign aid on human development in United Nations (U.N.) Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Research Design and Methods: Research of peer reviewed studies on effectiveness of U.S. foreign aid support to U.N. LDCs were conducted using ProQuest and Google Scholar databases. A select literature review of keywords is offered to elucidate understanding of current perspectives. The study approach is based on empirical evidence. This study employs a set of multivariate linear regression models to examine the effects of U.S. foreign aid on health, education, and social services on the Human Development Index (HDI) in LDCs from 2000 to 2020. Findings: The findings show that U.S. foreign aid for health sectors significantly impacted HDI in LDCs for the time period under review. Evidence Limitation/Implications: An important limitation is highlighted by the need for increased research on other variables identified per the HDI. Discussion: The results of this study suggest that U.S. foreign aid has had a positive effect on the achievement of human development goals in the health sectors of LDCs. Past research has linked improved human development outcomes with increased economic development which contributes to the sustainable development of a society. The significance of these findings warrants further research regarding the contribution of U.S. foreign aid to positive human development outcomes and economic growth. Contribution and Value: This article extends contribution and value to LDCs growth and sustainability by providing empirical evidence of the effect of U.S. foreign aid on the U.N. LDCs.

Analyzing the What and How of United States Foreign Aid to Israel 2017-2020

The United States and Israel are two of the countries with the most unique relationship. The relationship between the two countries can be traced back to the very beginning of Israel's statehood. For most of modern history, a lot of conflicts involving Israel have erupted in the Middle East, some of which have endangered Israel's very existence. The unique relationship between the two countries has led the United States to view Israel as its main ally in the Middle East. Therefore, it is important for the United States to help Israel ensure its survival in this conflict-ridden region. One U.S. effort involves its foreign aid to Israel. Through this study, the authors attempt to explain the form and process of U.S. foreign aid to Israel in 2017-2020. This paper uses a qualitative method, with the data collected using document and internet-based methods. The primary data that are being used here are documents and reports on US foreign aid to Israel from 2017 to 2020 published directly by the US government. The findings show that the United States provided Israel with substantial military and non-military foreign aid in the period 2017-2020, and that the process of providing this aid is also progressing well.

United States Foreign Aid and Multilateralism Under the Trump Presidency

Abstract This article addresses two key questions concerning US foreign aid under the 45th US President, Donald Trump (2017–21): Did the Trump administration radically restructure the foreign aid apparatus of the US government amid the recent reemergence of China as a key state actor in international development and global governance? If so, how and under which conditions did the US, as the world’s largest foreign aid donor, deal with the new challenges posed by the expanding global reach of Chinese foreign aid and diplomacy? The core objective here is to look back at the Trump administration, particularly in its role in the US foreign aid apparatus vis-à-vis the reemergence of China as a global power and the decline of US influence abroad. This article maintains that the dominance of the US in the international development sector was under serious threat from two principal challenges: (1) the lack of coherent and credible strategy from the Trump administration amid the rapidly increasing influence of China as an aid donor country; and the (2) the declining legitimacy of the US a foreign aid donor due to the exclusionary and anti-globalization discourses of Trump vis-à-vis the perceived the decline of American power.

Who Gave More United States Foreign Aid To Sierra Leone? George W. Bush vs. Barack H. Obama

It behooves me to begin this article by making it very clear that it is not about explaining the causes/reasons and effects/outcomes for the amounts of the economic aid (i.e. humanitarian and development assistance) and military aid (i.e. military and police assistance) provided to Sierra Leone by the George W. Bush Administration (2001-2008) and the Barack H. Obama Administration (2009-2016), as I have done for a number of previous United States administrations in earlier works (Bangura, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2015). Instead, the objective here is to determine which of the two Presidents provided more of this aid to Sierra Leone. In essence, it is a descriptive account. And, as I describe it and its import in our book titled Peace Research for Africa: Critical Essays on Methodology, the descriptive account seeks to answer the what is question; it is therefore important in developing an accurate profile of situations, events, or persons (Bangura and McCandless, 2007:128 & 165).

Have geopolitics influenced decisions on American health foreign assistance efforts during the Obama presidency?

BackgroundThis study sought to characterize the possible relationship between US geopolitical priorities and annual decisions on health foreign assistance among recipient nations between 2009 and 2016.MethodsData on total planned United States (US) foreign aid and health aid were collected for the 194 member nations of the World Health Organization (WHO) from publicly available databases. Trends in per-capita spending were examined between 2009 and 2016 across the six regions of the WHO (Africa, Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific). Data on US national security threats were obtained from the Council on Foreign Relations’ annual Preventive Priorities Survey. Multivariable regression models were fitted specifying planned health aid as the dependent variable and threat level of a recipient aid nation as the primary independent variable.ResultsAcross the aggregate 80 planned recipient countries of US health aid over the duration of the study period, cumulative planned per-capita spending was stable (US$ 0.65 in both 2009 and 2016). The number of annual planned recipients of this aid declined from 74 in 2009 to 56 in 2016 (24.3% decline), with planned allocations decreasing in the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, and Europe; corresponding increases were observed in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific. Regression analyses demonstrated a dose-response, whereby higher levels of threat were associated with larger declines in planned spending (critical threat nations: b = -3.81; 95% confidence interval (CI) -5.84 to -1.78, P ≤ 0.001) and one-year lagged (critical threat nations: b = -3.91; 95% CI, -5.94 to -1.88, P ≤ 0.001) analyses.ConclusionsHigher threat levels are associated with less health aid. This is a novel finding, as prior studies have demonstrated a strong association between national security considerations and decisions on development aid.

Pelaksanaan Program Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) dan Kepentingan Amerika Serikat di Indonesia

Kajian ini membahas mengenai program hibah Millennium ChallengeAccount (MCA) di Indonesia yang merupakan salah satu proyek bantuan luarnegeri Amerika Serikat (AS). Para ahli berpendapat bahwa pemberianbantuan luar negeri selalu terkait dengan motif negara donor. Studi inimenginvestigasi motif AS dalam pemberian hibah MCA ke Indonesia.Ditemukan bahwa MCA dirumuskan untuk motif politik dan ekonomi. Motifpolitik terkait dengan upaya AS untuk menunjukkan komitmen dalam isupelestarian lingkungan global. Motif ekonomi terkait dengan upaya-upayaAS untuk melindungi perusahaan minyak dan gas AS di Indonesia terhadaptuntutan untuk masalah lingkungan dan sosial, perluasan pasar AS untukproduk kesehatan dan farmasi, dan pembentukan iklim yang kondusif bagiperusahaan AS

Aid and Human Rights: The Case of US Aid to Israel

The paper examines the allocation of economic as well as military aid from the United States (US) to Israel and investigates whether the US has ever linked its aid to human rights performance in case of the Jewish State. In doing so, the paper explores US foreign aid policies in the light of US Congressional legislation enacted in 1974, which aimed at linking the provision of US aid to human rights performance of aid recipient governments. An assessment of US foreign aid policies illustrates that the US has rarely acted upon such legislation in letter and spirit to terminate or restrict aid to governments involved in violation of the globally recognized human rights. Focusing on US bilateral aid policies during three distinct periods: the Cold War, the post-Cold War and the ‘war on terror’; this study shows that instead of linking aid to respect for human rights in the case of Israel, the US has rather authorized more aid to the Jewish State despite the latter's dismal record of human rights performance. The paper illustrates that the provision of US aid is not inspired by the promotion of democracy, liberty and human rights in aid-receiving states. The study concludes that when US foreign policy goals including political, security and geo-strategic interests are at stake, human rights are not significant dynamics behind US aid distribution to Israel or any other US strategic partners.

Foreign aid, democracy, and gender quota laws

ABSTRACTWhy do so many developing countries have gender quota policies? This article argues that foreign aid programmes influence developing countries to adopt policies aimed at fulfilling international norms regarding gender equality. This relationship is driven by two causal mechanisms. On the one hand, countries may use gender quotas as a signal to improve their standing in the international hierarchy, possibly as an end unto itself, but more likely as a means towards ensuring future aid flows. On the other, countries may adopt gender quotas as a result of successful foreign aid interventions specifically designed to promote women’s empowerment. I test these two causal mechanisms using data on foreign aid commitments to 173 non-OECD countries from 1974 to 2012. The results suggest that while programmes targeting women’s empowerment may have some influence on quota adoption, developing countries dependent on United States foreign aid are also likely to use gender quotas as signalling devices rather than as a result of ongoing liberalization efforts.

The Strategic Substitution of United States Foreign Aid

I present a foreign policy decision-making theory that accounts for why US food aid is used strategically when other more powerful economic aid tools are at the disposal of policymakers. I focus my analysis on US food aid because this aid program provides an excellent case with which to test for the existence of foreign policy substitution. Substitution is an important assumption of many foreign policy theories yet proves to be an allusive empirical phenomenon to observe. Central to this analysis is the identification of legal mechanisms such as the “needy people” provision in the US foreign aid legislation that legally restrict certain types of aid; this mechanism, however, does allow for the allocation of certain types of foreign aid, such as food aid, to human rights abusing regimes. Thus, I test if food aid is used as a substitute for human rights abusing states while methodologically accounting for other aid options. The empirical results, estimated with a multinomial logit and Heckman model, demonstrate that countries with high levels of human rights abuse are (i) more likely to receive food aid and (ii) receive greater amounts of food aid even when controlling for other economic aid, the conditioning effect of strategic interests and humanitarian need over the period 1990–2004.

Defining the Problem of Trafficking: The Interplay of U.S. Law, Donor and NGO Engagement and the Local Context in Latin America

The problem of trafficking has received enormous attentions since the late 1990s, driven in particular by the United States initiatives under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and its subsequent reauthorizations in 2003 and 2005 (the TVPA) and the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000) (commonly known as the Polermo Protocol). Under the TVPA, the United States not only declared the war on trafficking a national and international priority, it predicated United States foreign aid, in part, upon compliance with the TVPA's mandate that all states undertake similar efforts. The donor community and local and international NGOs also have aggressively worked on the problem. Trafficking has been the subject of growing media attention throughout the world, drawing attention to the horrors of this form of human rights abuse. Nonetheless, the problem remains ill-defined and efforts to combat it have floundered. Unfortunately, the actors responsible for putting the fight against trafficking on the public agenda, the United States, the donor/NGO community and the media, have at the same time, wittingly or unwittingly, shaped and sometimes distorted our understandings of the problem and the efforts needed to address it. These difficulties are not unique to Latin America, although I will focus my attention there. In order to highlight the overall problem of trafficking, I will begin by identifying the definitional, sociological and legal problem that hinder the development of an accurate assessment of the problem. I focus not upon the empirical problems of research and assessment, an area addressed by others more qualified to do so, but rather upon those issues within the compass of policy makers and advocates. I will then describe the basic features of trafficking in Latin America and identify efforts to address the problem highlighting, in particular, the role by the United States, the TVPA and the donor/NGO community. Finally, I will suggest appropriate methods for limiting the problem and assisting its victims.

Book Review: George M. Guess, The Politics of United States Foreign Aid (Croom Helm, 1987), pp. 297, £27.50

"Book Review: George M. Guess, The Politics of United States Foreign Aid (Croom Helm, 1987), pp. 297, £27.50." Political Science, 41(1), pp. 80–81

Book Review: George M. Guess, The Politics of United States Foreign Aid (London and Sydney: Croom Helm, 1987, 297pp., £27.50)

Book Review: George M. Guess, The Politics of United States Foreign Aid (London and Sydney: Croom Helm, 1987, 297pp., £27.50)

The politics of United States foreign aid

The politics of United States foreign aid

At the end of the line: Women and united states foreign aid in Asia, 1978-1980

Addressing how seriously are being considered in recent US assistance projects and the evaluations made of those projects this discussion contends that the issue of women in development may be usefully conceptualized as having several distinct stages and argues that continuing problems remain in translating concern into action. The data base for the main project consisted of a nonrandom sample of 49 in-depth evaluations and special studies of US foreign aid projects in Asia. All had been conducted in the fiscal years 1978-80 for the Agency for International Developments (AID) Asia Bureau. The projects evaluated ranged in size from several million dollars to several hundred million dollars each and covered the entire spectrum of assistance. Women were not mentioned in the majority of evaluations and special studies surveyed. Using the most liberal coding scheme possible there is some mentionof -- sometimes only a phrase or 2 -- in 15 of the 49 evaluation reports (31%). 7 of the 15 teams with female members mentioned (47%). This contrasts with 8 mentions in the remaining 34 reports made presumably by all-male teams (24%). In 4 of the 49 reports were to be important (family planning programs which focus on only as acceptors) are not considered in this category. The 4 projects in which were to be prime beneficiaries were examined. 2 of the projects 1 in Korea and 1 in Bangladesh are Community Based Integrated Rural Development (cBIRD) projects under the auspices of the Save the Children Organization. The 3rd project a sericulture (silkworm raising) project in Thailand had originally been intended as a women in development effort but seems to have been translated into a help the whole family focus. The 4th project a survey research effort in the Southern Philippines considers the impact of infrastructure on an all-female sample. If are supposed to be principal beneficiaries of a project the question is whether they are receiving the principal proportion of project resources such as money training and credit. For example it is clear in both CBIRD projects that regardless of the intentions of their formulators are neither controlling a significant proportion of project resources nor reaping a significatn proportion of project benefits. If cumulative self-corrective knowledge about what helps and what hurts in various efforts is to be compiled and communicated a more insitiutionalized system of project evaluation is necessary. It is important ot consider at both the beginning and the end of projects.

The Use of Social Scientists in the United States Foreign Aid Program: A Retrospective

The predecessor of AID, the Community Development Division of the International Cooperation Administration (ICA), was once the nations largest employer of anthropologists. I will try to briefly trace how that situation developed and what resulted from it.

United States Foreign Aid in Perspective

United States Foreign Aid in Perspective

U.S. Military Missions To Iran, 1943–1978: The Political Economy of Military Assistance

“Aid to Iran is not recommended primarily because Iran needs economic aid, but because it offers the most effective means of forcing the Iranians in spite of themselves to put their house in order.” Mr. McGhee to the Secretary of State, UM D-97, April 21, 1950 in Foreign Relations of the United States: 1950, Volume V (Washington, D.C., 1978), p. 516.“The largest, most pervasive source of technical assistance, on manpower problems was the United States foreign aid program, both civilian and military. There was hardly an agency or program of the Iranian Government concerned with training or education that did not have its Point IV experts or U.S. contract group.” George Baldwin, Planning and Development in Iran (New York, 1967), p. 145.“Taken on balance, all U.S. foreign assistance is ultimately military or paramilitary in nature, even its ostensibly economic aid: it is designed primarily to enable foreign countries to support a military superstructure capable of saving the United States the cost of having to provide military service with its own armed forces.” Michael Hudson, “The Political Economy of Foreign Aid,” in The Myth of Aid, by Denis Goulet and Michael Hudson (New York, 1971), p. 80.