The Study Of Post-Cold War’s US Aid To Africa: Contents, Reasons And Evaluation

Based on the viewpoints of the realistic international political theory, foreign aid is animportant tool of diplomatic activities and the manifestation to handle national relations forcountries.Foreign aid can influence the development of relations with other countries. So it is anissue that has been praised by the academic circles. In foreign assistance field, as the mostdeveloped country in the world, U.S. foreign aid is the earliest, highest and maximum one.With rich aid practices, the aid receivers spread all over the word. So with great significance,the foreign aid issue is worthy of studying. From the view of Africa, which is the mostimpoverished continent in dire need of help all over the world, should gain more attention,including aid from the international community. After the cold war, with the "change" on allaspects of international affairs and issues, U.S. aid to Africa also presents some newcharacteristics. Studying the issue of U.S. aid to Africa after the cold war,it’s beneficial torecognize the issue of the theoretical context and the realistic situation and eventually providesome theory origins and experiences for our country’s foreign aid. That is also the aim of thisartical.This artical includes five parts:The first part, discussing the policy adjustments of the United States after World War Ⅱ.This part mainly introduce the beginning and the four times adjustment of U.S. aid policies toAfrica, and different periods have different performances.The second part, discussing the content of U.S. aid to Africa after the cold war. thecontent of the U.S. aid to Africa can be expounded from projects, categories and newcharacteristics. Because of the changes of the international background and national strategies,U.S. aid to Africa have taken place significant changes including economic aid, military aid,media and the aid conditions and status after the cold war. The aid affairs have shown a rangeof new characteristics. The third part, discussing the reasons of the United States’ aiding to Africa after cold war.On the view of the international background, the international situation are changing andappearing the situation of " one superpower and several major powers ". Africa, which was onthe verge of the status before is gaining more and more attention and aid from westerncountries. On the view of the United States, as the important political power, the economicinterest groups, public interest groups and the national race interest groups play an importantrole in promoting aid agenda to Africa. In addition, terrorism, oil, environmental protection,the international refugees and all kinds of other non-traditional security threats closely relatedto Africa. It is the need of dealing with these non-traditional security threats to help Africa forthe United States. On the view of Africa continent, they are becoming self-improvement bymeans of unity, which is another important reason for attracting the United States.The fourth part, telling the evaluation of the aid after the cold war to Africa from U.S. Ithas positive impacts: providing conditions for economic development, stabilizing politicalsituation, improving health care, education level, and the infrastructure conditions; But thenegative effects also are obvious: conditional aid leading to bad results, encouragingcorruption, speeding up the " Multivelocity Africa" phenomenon, producing " aid dependency"; Through the surface phenomenon of the aid, according to the theory of realism theory"foreign aid is the tool of diplomatic activities", the essence of U.S. aid to Africa isAmerican maximizing its own interests, presenting on: political interests, economic benefits,image interests and military interests.The last part,telling the China’s enlightenment from U.S aid agenda. As a big donorcountry, in order to make our foreign aid fully playing its utilities, China should analyze thepositive aspects and the negative aspects, and sum up experiences.In the part of epilogue, the author summary the artical’s core points, the limits and thepredictions of this issue.A variety of methods are used in this artical. The author gathered a lot of text materials,network resources, translated materials and other related materials; In order to carry onin-depth and multi-levels analysis, interdisciplinary research methods are used; Researchingon the history of aid ideas and activities is a way of discussing that can find the arguments; The combining of theoretical analysis and empirical analysis make the specific argumentsclearer; Using illustrations and chart analysis methods, the content will become self-evident,making arguments concretic and powerful.To sum up, this artical summarizes some new features of the United States aid to Africaafter the cold war, and finds out the reasons behind the massive aids. Then, the authoranalyzed the beneficial effects and adverse effects which the aid has brought to Africa and theessence of U.S. aid to Africa.The purpose of this paper is drawing a conclusion from U.S. aid to Africa to enlighten thepractices of China’s foreign aid and develope friendly relations between China and othercountries.