US aid facilitates state violence



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Aid and Seduce: US Foreign Aid and State Violence (Stanford University Press – 2020) discusses the claim that foreign aid helps people overcome poverty, while at the same time it can be a waste of money and effort. The writer, Jessica Tresco Darden, an assistant professor at American University’s School of International Service, discusses this allegation and associated factors, based on official documents, including those from the CIA and FBI, which have been declassified.

The main point that the author analyzes in the six chapters of this author is how a foreign aid program facilitates state violence, and she says that it is inconsistent and constantly vacillates between supporting the common good and improving the security and diplomatic interests of the United States. . But after 70 years of concessions, aid often plays a role in supporting human rights violators, but without a clear political benefit. He also discusses the view that food aid or humanitarian aid is inherently harmless and that military assistance is often harmful, but believes that the practical reality is sometimes the opposite.
The author says that foreign aid sometimes has profound negative effects on recipient countries, as the potential for civil war and greater empowerment of human rights violations increases, and the ability of recipients to arm aid it can increase the duration and cost of wars.
The author says she drew three evidence-based ideas that should help rethink the foreign aid issue and suggests some principles for revitalizing America’s foreign aid program and giving it positive substance.
1) It is easy for recipients to manipulate foreign aid, especially food aid, because economic aid from the United States has been consistently associated with an increase in state violence and human rights violations during and after the Cold War. Foreign aid is particularly vulnerable to diversion when it can be easily exchanged or sold for cash. It can be taken over by the state or armed groups and distributed only to their followers.

The aid program wavers between supporting the common good and enhancing America’s security.

2) The provision of economic or humanitarian assistance can contribute to the use of the government to repress its citizens and allow or prolong human rights violations. Contrary to popular belief, when foreign aid is provided to politically insecure governments, it can actually increase human rights violations, support state violence, and prolong civil wars. This is done through two mechanisms:
First, the income effect: In a restricted political environment, such as a civil war, foreign aid frees up resources that a disputed regime could dedicate to its military and security services.
Second: The Impact of Capacity Building: Aid is allocated directly to the state’s military and security apparatus, and provides an example of this: US economic support to the Salvadoran military government as it pursued a brutal and bloody war against the insurgency The leftist in the 1980s fueled and prolonged the war, thus contributing to the death or disappearance of more than 75,000 people over twelve years.
3. The provision of military assistance can help support human rights, not hinder them. It also increases military professionalism and can reduce the likelihood that soldiers will commit non-professional human rights violations.
Therefore, US lawmakers should:
• Seriously balancing the costs, benefits, and ethical implications of intervening in politics, economics, and societies for others. Whenever possible, make sure that foreign aid programs adhere to the no-harm principle.
Make human rights and freedoms a focal point, not just a point of dialogue, in foreign aid policy.
• Reconsider agreements that do not support human rights and the need to reconsider a long-term trade-off with countries that do not adhere to US standards of human rights and democracy even after decades of US support, including Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, and Ethiopia .
Although it has often caused great damage in the past, the refocused and revitalized US foreign aid program has the potential to be a major force in expanding human freedom.
Despite the importance of some of the author’s analysis, and the fact that her author contains important statistics, we blame them for ignoring the impact of American aid on both the Zionist enemy and the leadership of the Ramallah militia and how it contributes to strengthening the oppression and repression of the Palestinian people. We also blame the author for failing to take into account the views of those who suffered as a result of “American aid.”
One last word: remember that the only thing for free is a piece of cheese in a mousetrap.

Helping and Gambling: U.S. Foreign Assistance and State Violence

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