On the surface, United States foreign assistance projects masqueraded very often mean desperately needed food and employment for the poor, impossible to resist, difficult to critique.
But from the vantage point of US foreign policy objectives, a very different picture
emerges and long-term and global outcomes often differ dramatically from the immediate
consequences of relief efforts.
The United States International Development Agency (USAID) emerged as an arm of US foreign policy following the Second World War.
This mandate raises the important question of whether US policy interests generally
result in improved living conditions for the majority of the world's poor?
While
it may occasionally be the case that the interests of the US government and the
poverty stricken citizens around the world are aligned, more often than not, US
economic and political interests are dependent on the exploitation and manipulation
of workers and consumers in the developing world.
The fundamental problem with USAID's stated objectives is that it is not in the
national interests of the US government to promote self sufficiency in developing
countries.
US economic interests are fed by foreign dependency on US imports and
loans.
Political interests are served by maintaining an economic stranglehold on
foreign governments, and many a strategic alliance has been forged out of economic
necessity.
Among USAID's operating tenets are sustainability and local capacity
building, noble goals but highly dependent on how these tenets are defined and the
manner in which they are implemented.
Sustainability of what, and which local capacities
are being supported?
Implementation is primarily shaped by another of USAID's governing
tenets, selectivity, the allocation of resources based on foreign policy interests.
The recently released USAID Haiti Field Report provides an excellent case study
for investigating the role of USAID in promoting US foreign policy objectives under
the friendly guise of aid. Much of USAID's current work in Haiti is carried out
under the umbrella of the Haiti Transition Initiative (HTI), a program developed
by USAID's Office for Transition Initiatives (OTI) in May 2004 to emphasize privatization and more privatization.
