United States foreign aid in complex humanitarian emergencies: Motivations behind aid in western Europe, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and North Korea

The use of foreign aid as an instrument through which the government of one state voluntarily transfers resources to another state is a relatively recent phenomenon. Almost every state either now provides or receives foreign aid. Foreign aid has become entrenched at some level either as a duty or an obligation or as charity or benevolence on the part of wealthy states. Since the early 1950s, the US has transferred more than {dollar}200 billion in economic aid to developing states (and some that are relatively developed but which are strategically or politically important). Consequently, foreign aid now constitutes a fundamental, enduring aspect of north-south relations and a major financial transfer.; This study examines the motivations of US officials in foreign policymaking in complex humanitarian emergencies and poses several questions. Are US officials affected primarily by realist or liberal conceptions of the world? Are US officials motivated by humanitarian considerations when making foreign policies? Do bureaucratic politics influence US foreign policy? In a democratic political system, do the mass public and its opinions influence US foreign policy?; This analysis combines exhaustive study of public documentation with scores of interviews with policymakers, in order to determine how US policy was shaped in four complex humanitarian emergencies. Detailed case studies of the European Recovery Program, the unacknowledged genocide in Cambodia, US emergency food aid to the Mengistu government in Ethiopia, and ongoing US food assistance to the Kim Jong Il regime in North Korea, illustrate the complex ways in which American foreign policy is shaped by the interaction of numerous constituencies. By analyzing models of realism and humanitarianism, I demonstrate that these approaches need to be supplemented by attention to public opinion. This is a key factor in the making of humanitarian assistance decisions. If public opinion is engaged by media publicity or by nongovernmental activity, it can compel American presidential administrations to take foreign policy steps they might not otherwise do.