United States Development Assistance Policy: The Domestic Politics of Foreign Economic Aid

Economist Vernon Ruttan offers a review of US development assistance policy from the end of World War II to 1995. His emphasis is on the structures and programmes that proliferated in this period and were designed to provide underdeveloped countries with technical and economic assistance. Ruttan follows the development of the US Agency for International Development, quasigovernmental agencies, and private voluntary organizations. He also examines US policy toward the World Bank, United Nations agencies and other international development assistance organizations. Ruttan's interest is not to measure the impact of US assistance programmes, but to examine the domestic political forces that have directed US development assistance policy. By means of this review, he shows how political interests often detrimentally influenced development efforts. Ruttan concludes that the US development assistance programme is in disarray and that there is a real need for its deep re-evaluation and restructuring. The last two chapters of the book review past reform efforts and outline Ruttan's own recommendations. This book should serve as a reference both for specialists and for those wanting a deeper understanding of development issues.