Trends in United States Foreign Aid to Latin America, 1950-2008
Open Access
Author:
Mathias, Jay
Area of Honors:
International Politics
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Joseph Wright, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Gretchen G Casper, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
international politics Latin America foreign aid Cold War
Abstract:
Since the end of World War II, foreign assistance has been a valuable tool for the United States in their global diplomatic strategy. One region of the world in which the United States’ strategic goals has been called into question is in its hemispheric neighbor, Latin America. Latin America’s complex 20th century was coupled with an equally intriguing U.S. foreign policy strategy toward the region. How did the U.S. determine who received foreign assistance? The existing literature is split, offering neo-realist, neo-liberal, and altruistic motivations for allocation. I argue that realist interests of strategic balance influenced United States foreign aid policy decisions, with the Cold War as a time of the heaviest aid flows to Latin America. However, this research finds that neo-liberal and altruistic interests are associated total U.S. assistance to the region. The claim that the Cold War mattered in aid allocation to Latin America also finds support. Other intriguing stories emerged from the analysis, results surrounding partisanship, the influence of covert CIA support, and competing patterns between U.S. military and economic aid.