U.S.Foreign Assistance To Latin America During The Obama Administration

Foreign assistance is an important tool for a state to realize its strategic goals and secure its national interests.The U.S.has long been a committed doner to foreign assistance in Latin America,with its aid policy varying during different time.The Obama Administration,faced with an advancing and increasingly independent Latin America,made major changes in its aid policy.The thesis,taking U.S.foreign assistance to Latin America under the Obama Administration as the theme,reviews the evolution of U.S.aid policy from the Cold War to the Bush Administration;it analyzes changes and continuity in the Obama Administration's aid policy in Latin America by studying statistics and government official reports;it analyzes U.S.motivations behind them;it shows the limitations in policy-making.The conclusion of this thesis is that the Obama Administration paid special attention to Latin America,given the increasing anti-Americanism in the region during the Bush presidency,U.S.security challenges and major power rivalry in the 21^st century.Central America,together with Haiti,Colombia,and Mexico,has been among the top regional recipients of U.S.foreign aid.The Obama Administration abandoned President Bush's strategy of over emphasizing security assistance,and shifted its focus to development assistance in the hope of stemming drug demand and reducing crime rate by promoting education and increasing the standard of living in Latin America.Although the U.S.boasts a comprehensive legal and institutional system to guide its aid policy,aid effectiveness is compromised by such factors as partisan divergence,budget constraints and a lack of evaluation mechanism.Although the Obama Administration adjusted its aid policy for Latin America,it did not fundamentally change the basic U.S.policy of control,intervention,and pragmatism in Latin America due to the nature of U.S.hegemonism.This determines that the U.S.cannot achieve Obama's commitments of seeking "an equal partnership"and building a relation simply based on "mutual respect and common interests and shared values".