Analysis Of The United States Aids Strategy Towards Africa

Foreign aid has become an important part of the world political economy. Arguments on foreign aid have caused great deal of discussions and some of the theories have become evidences for policy-making on foreign aid.The study of foreign aids policy and practice of developed countries represented by the U.S. should be an important part of our strategy thoughts in 21st century. We are supposed to evaluate the effects of foreign aids policy and solve its problems on the condition that we have a clear understanding of what is the motive of such a policy. Foreign aids policy helps us understand the U.S. adjustment in diplomatic strategy as well as the changes of the themes of main international conferences, from military security to environment, transnational crime and anti-terrorism. From the perspective of times themes and the world changing pattern, the probe into the issue of foreign aids helps grasp international relations, improve Sino-U.S. relations and strengthen cooperation in the fields of foreign aids in the new century and the foreign aids can be more effective. Based on the foreign aids theories, this paper attempts to analyze the current U.S. strategy towards Africa from the perspective of international relations and international political economy theories.This research paper consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 is the basic introduction, including the reasons and the meanings for the choice of the topic and the relative foreign aids theories. Chapter 2 introduces U.S. foreign aids practices towards Africa, reviews the periodical approaches of American foreign aid policy, and analyzes the effects of conditional foreign aids as well as surrounding sectors. The author stands that conditional foreign aid reduces policy latitude, wastes negotiation cost, and affects African nations' long-term development strategy. Chapter 3 explores the "China factor" in the process of U.S. foreign aid policy-making. The United States has taken strategic transition of its foreign aid policy because of so-called "China factor". This chapter analyzes how China's African strategy influences the US African policy adjustment. Chapter 4 focuses on the newly reform of the U.S. foreign aids systems and exposes that western countries has increase intervention in African affairs. What's more, the Sino-U.S. relation is not a zero-sum game and the two countries should strengthen cooperation in the field of foreign aids. Chapter 5 is the conclusion.In this paper, the two main innovations are as follows: first, on the basis of international relations and international political economy theories, this paper analyzes the effects of conditional foreign aids as well as surrounding sectors. Conditional foreign aid reduces policy latitude, wastes negotiation cost, and affects African nations' long-term development strategy. However, in the short term, foreign aid has great significances and is a necessary condition for African development. Second, this paper explores the "China factor" in the process of U.S. foreign aid policy-making. China's large amount of aids to Africa, the rise of soft power and the Sino-African cooperation in the area of energy bring great challenges to the U.S. and in the eyes of westerners, china will be a potential danger.