Congress and Africa's constituency: The intersection of racial factors and related interests and business interests in the development of Africa Growth and Opportunity Act

Congress has a resurgent interest in Africa. This interest is often framed as a response to the growing influence of the African-American members of Congress and the Black electorate. It is framed as a matter of business interest in expanding trade and managing markets. This dissertation focuses on the role of racial factors and related interests and business interests as influences on the decision making of members of Congress. It focuses on the role of racial factors and related interests and business interests as competing, conflicting, and converging influences in the behavior of Congress and interest groups involved with Africa foreign policy making.; African-American members of Congress are most acutely affected by these two variables given the composition of their constituency. Some African-American members of Congress like many other members of Congress feel an affinity to their ethnic homeland, incorporating its people and geography as a distant but relevant interest. In addition to their electorate, African-American members of Congress are pressured by many groups involved with an Africa agenda. Part of the work of this dissertation examines the differences and similarities the behavior of members of Congress who have significant African-American constituencies and those who do not. The principal research is whether members' of Congress policy-making decisions related to the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act are more likely to be aligned with business interests in contrast to racial interests, when racial interests are not a clearly salient influences in their constituency. A historiography of congressional behavior, business interest, and racial interest is provided as context for the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The study examines what interest groups were involved in the development of the Act and how they sought to affect its legislative content. At the core of the study is the role of members of Congress in shaping the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The research approach and methodology utilizes public documents, primary source documents from interest groups, interviews, and roll call analysis. The influences of business interests and constituent demographic characteristics are considered in members of Congress policy decisions.; The study found that members of Congress and in particular its African-American legislators find themselves in a difficult political circumstance in efforts to advance core interests of their constituencies in a majoritarian and party dominated institutions. This may leave African-American legislators and certain interest groups little alternatives other than to find incremental and symbolic achievements sufficient in lull periods. Members of Congress' policy making decisions related to the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act were likely to be aligned with business interests consistent with racial factors such as majority-minority district composition and other interests salient in their districts.