This essay examines the many problems with public and private development aid and argues that global liberalization of trade and immigration would have a greater direct effect in reducing global poverty. It also examines and rejects the view that people in rich countries have a strong moral obligation to give to the global poor. Such an obligation is in tension with an ethic that prizes personal projects. A political morality of equal respect and concern is congenial not with foreign (...) aid, but with recognizing the agency of the global poor by lifting the many obstacles they currently face to participating in the market as producers and consumers. (shrink)

This article analyses a recent discourse of responsibility that accompanies states’ foreign aid provision. States adopt this discourse of National Social Responsibility to show their complian...

Peter Singer has famously argued that people living in affluent western countries are morally obligated to donate money to famine relief. The central premise in his argument is that, If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do so. The present paper offers an argument to the effect that affluent people ought to support foreign aid projects based on a much weaker ethical premise. (...) The new premise states that, If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of moral importance, we ought, morally, to do so. This premise, supplemented with a notion of final value drawing on Amartya Sen''s concept of freedom as capabilities and functionings, is conceived as a special version of a weak, egalitarian Pareto principle. (shrink)

Since 1990, the allocation of foreign development aid has come to be shaped by donors' concerns about promoting "good government" in developing countries. Yet the aid donors adopt a wide variety of implicit and actual definitions of "good government.".

What is the relationship between Thailand’s human rights crisis during Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s leadership and the USA-led post-9/11 war on terror? Why did the human rights situation dramatically deteriorate after the Thaksin regime publicly supported the Bush administration’s war on terror and consequently received US counterterror assistance? This article offers two conceptual arguments that jointly demonstrate a constitutive theoretical explanation, which shows that counterterror and militaristic transnational and national discursive structures enabled the strategy of state repression in Thailand under (...) Thaksin. The first concept refers to strategic localization, which refers to how the Bush administration’s global war on terror—and its consequent overarching emphasis on military security—provided an opportunity for the Thaksin administration to strategically localize the global threat of terrorism in ways that could seem relevant to the local Thai context. The second concept pertains to resource mobilization, which shows how converging US and Thai discourses on military security facilitated Thaksin’s strategy of increased state repression that led to the proliferation of state-led human rights abuses. This research article contributes to the human rights literature in two ways: by highlighting how foreign aid programs and its constitutive political discourses shape recipient countries’ domestic human rights situation and by tracing the macro-political factors that lead to the eventual democratic decay of contemporary Thailand. (shrink)

This article aims to expose the main governmental shifts in recent American history (1961-2000) by examining two programs: the Assistance to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the Agency for International development (US-AID). Through the exploration of primary and secondary sources, we analyse the production, organisation and circulation of governmental practices in the realms of both domestic and foreign policy. In the American context, practices of government typically revolve around freedom, efficiency models and individual responsibility. Throughout the analysis, we (...) find that the general critiques which have guided reforms and experiments in both areas converge around the same elements. This testifies to the fact that the reflexions and technical models directed at the optimal management of populations are more far-reaching than they first appear. Moreover, the historical transformations in welfare and foreign aid practices bear out the increasingly disciplinary nature of the administration and objectification of the poor, both within the United States and internationally. (shrink)

This paper addresses an important methodological question for a recent debate in global justice: What types of data are necessary for settling normative debates about foreign aid? Recently, several philosophers have considered the case for foreign aid and have concluded that foreign aid is either ineffective or counter-productive. This paper considers what kinds of evidence those doing applied philosophy must use to support different claims about aid’s efficacy. Then, using some of the best available data, this paper (...) makes a strong case for at least some foreign aid. This paper’s methodological lessons, however, are quite general. It considers what types of data are necessary for establishing the kinds of empirical claims often relied upon in the political philosophy and public policy literature. (shrink)

Why do some donor governments pursue international development through recipient governments, while others bypass such local authorities? Weaving together scholarship in political economy, public administration and historical institutionalism, Simone Dietrich argues that the bureaucratic institutions of donor countries shape donor–recipient interactions differently despite similar international and recipient country conditions. Donor nations employ institutional constraints that authorize, enable and justify particular aid delivery tactics while precluding others. Offering quantitative and qualitative analyses of donor decision-making, the book illuminates how donors with neoliberally (...) organized public sectors bypass recipient governments, while donors with more traditional public-sector-oriented institutions cooperate and engage recipient authorities on aid delivery. The book demonstrates how internal beliefs and practices about states and markets inform how donors see and set their objectives for foreign aid and international development itself. It informs debates about aid effectiveness and donor coordination and carries implications for the study of foreign policy, more broadly. (shrink)

Does public condemnation or shaming of human rights abuses by the United Nations influence foreign aid delivery calculus across Western donor states? I argue that countries shamed in the United Nations Human Rights Council encourage donor states to channel more aid via international and local non-governmental organizations. Furthermore, I find this effect to be more pronounced with increased media coverage. The findings of this paper suggest that international organizations do influence advanced democracies’ foreign policy. Moreover, the paper also (...) finds that donor governments do not punish recipient leaders by scaling back on government-to-government aid, which is more fungible, despite public condemnations of their human rights practices owing largely to strategic concerns. These results are robust to a number of alternative data and estimation techniques. (shrink)

In his groundbreaking article “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” Peter Singer gave the following argument: Suffering and death from lack of food and shelter and medicine are bad. If we can do something to help prevent suffering and death from lack of food and shelter and medicine without sacrificing anything morally significant , then we should. So we should help prevent this suffering and death by giving foreign aid.

This article evaluates Japanese foreign aid policy in light of the World Commission on Environment and Development's concept of sustainable development by focusing on Japanese official development assistance (ODA) to energy sectors in the global South. The analysis reported here finds two fundamental weaknesses in Japanese ODA policy on the energy sector: first, its premise of the compatibility of economic growth with environmental sustainability and, second, its heavy reliance on modern science. As an alternative, this article suggests a policy (...) of promoting small and decentralized renewable energy technology. (shrink)

This article addresses the rise of faith-based emergency relief by examining the US President’s Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS (PEPFAR), a public health intervention focused on the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that the theological turn in humanitarian aid serves to amplify ongoing dynamics in the domestic politics of sub-Saharan African states, where social services have assumed the form of chronic emergency relief and religious organizations have come to play an increasingly prominent role in the provision of such services. (...) In the context of an ongoing public health crisis, PEPFAR has institutionalized the social authority of the Pentecostal and charismatic churches, leading to a semantic confluence between the postcolonial politics of emergency and the Pentecostal/Pauline theology of kairos or event. Far from being confined to the space of foreign aid, however, the faith-based turn in humanitarianism is in keeping with ongoing reforms in domestic social policy in the United States. While on the one hand the sustained welfare programmes of the New Deal and Great Society have been dismantled in favour of a system of emergency relief, on the other hand the federal government has intensified its moral, pedagogical and punitive interventions into the lives of the poor. The wilful transfer of welfare services to overtly religious service providers has played a decisive role in this process. The article concludes with a critical appraisal of the links between African and North American Pentecostal-evangelical churches and questions the revolutionary mission ascribed to Pauline political theology in recent political theory. (shrink)

This study explores the role that news coverage plays in the allocation of Japanese development aid. Conceptually, it is expected that democratic foreign policy officials, including those working in bureaucratic governmental structures will try to match the magnitude of their actions with what they expect is the public's perception of the importance of the recipient. News media salience serves an easily accessible indicator of that domestic political importance and, in the case of foreign aid, this suggests that higher (...) levels of news coverage of a less-developed country will lead to higher aid commitments. The statistical analysis demonstrates that the level of news coverage is a statistically significant factor in Japanese aid distributions. More significantly, the analysis demonstrates that separating grant aid from other forms of aid is critical for the empirical examination of the determinants of Japanese aid. (shrink)

This article examines the effect of Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) over 10 years that proposed to facilitate environmental conservation in developing countries. Special emphasis is given to ODA disbursements in the energy sector to evaluate whether Japan’s foreign aid has shifted its policy toward more environmentally sound goals. The article finds that despite its articulated premise, Japan’s ODA for the energy sector has favored environmentally problematic projects, that is, those based on fossil fuels and larger scale (10 megawatt (...) or larger) hydropower. Similar to patterns in the early 1990s, environmentally friendly projects have received little attention. It is not surprising that the expected amount of greenhouse gas emissions from Japan’s ODA-supported energy projects appears substantial. (shrink)

Arguments for the provision of foreign aid to help relieve the blight of developing countries have traditionally centred on obligations of benevolence and a duty to help those less fortunate.1 However, the War on Terror has resulted in a significant shift in how foreign aid is perceived. International prosperity and stability are now recognized as key elements in a fight to ameliorate the conditions that give rise to terrorism. Public support for foreign aid in general, normally unpopular, (...) has increased since 11 September 2001 due to greater public understanding of its role in combating terrorism.2 In particular, the need to address attitudes of foreign civilians toward the United States has become more widely recognized as a key component of efforts to reduce the ferment of the terrorist mindset. These strategies have assumed particular importance in light of the non-traditional nature of the threat posed by contemporary terrorism: a threat posed not by states or armies, but by individuals and groups who blend into, garner both the implicit and explicit support of, and are recruited from general civilian populations. (shrink)

Arguments for the provision of foreign aid to help relieve the blight of developing countries have traditionally centred on obligations of benevolence and a duty to help those less fortunate.1 However, the War on Terror has resulted in a significant shift in how foreign aid is perceived. International prosperity and stability are now recognized as key elements in a fight to ameliorate the conditions that give rise to terrorism. Public support for foreign aid in general, normally unpopular, (...) has increased since 11 September 2001 due to greater public understanding of its role in combating terrorism.2 In particular, the need to address attitudes of foreign civilians toward the United States has become more widely recognized as a key component of efforts to reduce the ferment of the terrorist mindset. These strategies have assumed particular importance in light of the non-traditional nature of the threat posed by contemporary terrorism: a threat posed not by states or armies, but by individuals and groups who blend into, garner both the implicit and explicit support of, and are recruited from general civilian populations. (shrink)

The traditional military-territorial model of the nation state defines international duties in terms of protecting citizens' property from foreign threats. In this 1992 book about the principles of the US agricultural policy and foreign aid, Professor Thompson replaces this model with the notion of the trading state that sees its role in terms of the establishment of international institutions that stabilize and facilitate cultural and intellectual, as well as commercial, exchanges between nations. The argument focuses on protectionist challenges (...) to foreign aid and development assistance programs, and engages with the views of a variety of economists, commodity organizations, and philosophers on world hunger and development. What emerges is a new interpretation of social contract theory that can determine goals for international trade and development policy. (shrink)

This book describes the foreign policy of John Rawls and Amartya Sen while building up towards a policy recommendation. By redirecting some military spending to development goals, the core needs of more civilians can be better met – while simultaneously advancing human security.

Bribery is a complicated, multi-dimensional issue. Upon first glance, most westerners would immediately condemn it as an underhanded, unfair means of gaining an advantage in a competitive or legal situation, and so it is in virtually every case in the westernized world. However, the issue becomes much more complicated in the international context, particularly in developing nations, where giving and accepting bribes is often normal and expected. This paper serves to inform ethical decision-making in situations where the “right choice” is (...) unclear with regards to bribery, primarily for individuals performing aid work in foreign countries with corrupt officials and police officers. In such contexts, a simple offering of food, money, or a small trinket may make the difference between a person being able to accomplish meaningful, life-changing work for the local populace or having that work significantly slowed at best and being thrown out of the country, robbed, or imprisoned in worse cases. The larger scale bribery issues in international business and the laws pertaining to them are also discussed. (shrink)

This paper theorizes that the effect of human rights violations on US economic aid is conditioned by the salience of US national security concerns. National security concerns will be more salient in situations where recipients contribute to maintaining US security and in temporal eras when the USA is perceived as being under increased external threat. As the relational and temporal salience of national security increases, any negative effect of human rights violations on US economic aid should decrease. I test this (...) hypothesis by examining US economic aid allocations to states from 1977 to 2005. The results show that the salience of national security concerns present in the US-recipient relationship does condition the relationship between human rights violations and US economic aid. There are also significant differences between different temporal eras of US foreign aid allocation. Future work should address how conflicts between interests and values in US foreign policy are negotiated. (shrink)

This paper examines the foreign direct investment decision from an ethical perspective, and considers the moral agency involved in such decisions, with emphasis upon the corporate decision-maker. Historical capital allocation models once regarded as both financially and ethically normative are shown to be deficient in today's environment. Work of modern western philososphical and theological ethicists is included in analyses of the applicability of selected ethical approaches or metaphors to multinational foreign direct investment decisions and the corporate manager's role (...) and responsibility as corporate decision-maker and moral agent. The ethical perspectives reviewed can serve as an aid to the individual manager's determination of what constitutes a responsible exercise of decision-making power. (shrink)

Not much has been written on the foreign assistance policy of Belgium, but work that focuses on it singly or in comparison with other cases tends to charge that Belgium lacks a coherent foreign assistance policy. This study examines the rhetoric of Belgian decision makers and the policy behavior of the state, utilizing a framework of four national role conception profiles, each bringing together a set of perceptions regarding the role decision makers perceive their state to play in (...) this issue area.Parliamentary debates for the period 1975-90 are coded for mention of themes associated with these profiles, white OECD data regarding the foreign aid expenditures for the same period provide insight into the policy behavior. It concludes that Belgian decision makers do not perceive foreign assistance as a separate issue area, but as inextricably linked with foreign policy. (shrink)

In the course of studying ancient Greek diplomatic relations I have come to think that one item of evidence deserves a little more said about it than it has, up to now, received. Tod 11.154, entitled Athens aids Eretria: 357–6 B.C.', is a document whose significance in Greek diplomatic history has not, I suggest, been fully appreciated. It is a unique epigraphic record of a genre of diplomatic instrument that was available to states which wished to emphasize their non-belligerence. R. (...) Bauslaugh has recently gathered the literary evidence for the use by neutral states of this type of instrument, prohibiting a state's citizens from serving as mercenaries for a foreign power, but he did not consider this decree, in which a state uses the same instrument to demonstrate its goodwill towards its allies. (shrink)

Cambodia’s GDP contributed 0.03 percent of the world economy. Cambodia economy has grown around seven percent. Cambodia’s economy was led by growth in garment exports. Cambodia’s economy was related with other countries through exports and imports. The Trump administration has imposed visa sanctions against Cambodia and likely to make economic sanction on Cambodia. To understand the potential impact of the sanction, a research into “Potential Impact of Foreign Sanction on Cambodia’s Economy” has been proposed. Two research objectives were (1) (...) to analyze potential impacts of foreign investment in Cambodia and (2) to analyze potential impacts on employment of Cambodians. This research focuses only trade sanction that limits or potential restriction of textile, clothing and footwear export from Cambodia to EU and US as independent that would potentially impact on seven independent variables including garment and footwear valued added to GDP, Cambodia’s exports, products exported to US and EU, worth of textile, clothing and footwear exports, garment and footwear investment factories, employments in garment and footwear, workers’ wages in garment factories and footwear factories. The secondary data was collected. The data was collected from varied sources. After the data and information collected, data entry was done into MS excel. The descriptive statistics like table and bar-charts were used for this research. The research found out that Cambodia’s economy was likely to be negatively impact from EU’s and US’s sanctions on Cambodia. The impacts included reduction of GDP value, potential loss of Cambodia export of textile, closure of garments and footwear factories, unemployment and loss of workers’ incomes in textile, clothing factories and footwear factories. There are some recommends: maintaining good relation with EU and US, exploring new markets of garments and footwear products, exploring impact of the close of visa of some top government officials to US on Cambodia’s economy, the impacts of products imported from EU on Cambodia. The more studies on other scenario of sanction on Cambodia and indirect impact and impacts of foreign aid reduction or withdrawal on Cambodia’s economy should be done. (shrink)

Increasing international cooperation and interdependence are important features of the contemporary globalized world. In the present age, foreign aid is a very peculiar type of transaction in the sense that its focus is to satisfy the objectives of the donor and the recipient, which are not always the same. This paper attempts to analyse the situation of US and British aid to Pakistan’s education sector. The role of international donors in the development of the education sector in Pakistan cannot (...) be underestimated. They have been even more important for this developing country which has faced financial crises, particularly during the 1990s. These financial hardships faced by the country were mainly the outcome of the changed regional, political, as well as the geostrategic situation which also caused the change in the behaviour of international donors. It is especially true in the case of the USA and the UK where the aid to Pakistan was seriously affected by the changed situation in Afghanistan, political changes within the country, its nuclear programme and more recently the events of 9/11. This discussion reflects that the potential benefits of the aid were not reaped adequately due mainly to disruption and resumption of aid on the grounds of the geo‐political situation and strategic interests of donors. (shrink)

In the course of studying ancient Greek diplomatic relations I have come to think that one item of evidence deserves a little more said about it than it has, up to now, received. Tod 11.154, entitled Athens aids Eretria: 357–6 B.C.', is a document whose significance in Greek diplomatic history has not, I suggest, been fully appreciated. It is a unique epigraphic record of a genre of diplomatic instrument that was available to states which wished to emphasize their non-belligerence. R. (...) Bauslaugh has recently gathered the literary evidence for the use by neutral states of this type of instrument, prohibiting a state's citizens from serving as mercenaries for a foreign power, but he did not consider this decree, in which a state uses the same instrument to demonstrate its goodwill towards its allies. (shrink)

This volume examines the impact of the Trump presidency on development aid. It starts out by describing the rise of national populism, the political landscape and the reasons for rejection of the political establishment, both under Trump and internationally. Next, it gives a historical-political overview of development aid in the post WW-II era and discusses the dominant Washington Consensus doctrine and its failure. It then provides a critique of the Official Development Assistance discourse and reviews the political economy of ODA, (...) the discourse, and the conditionalities that are barriers to socio-economic development. The final chapters explore the question of Trumponomics as an alternative to the global neoliberal ODA, and the potential impact of Trumponomics’ on ODA. The book concludes with thoughts on the potential future directions for ODA within the ‘ideals’ of Trumponomics and national populism. (shrink)

This article discusses how pre-Genocide foreign missionary activity prepared the way for relief and existential support during and after the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1921. Examples are drawn from American, British, and German Protestant missionary organisations, especially the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the Turkish Missions Aid Society or Bible Lands Missions Aid Society, and the Christlicher Hilfsbund im Orient. These agencies developed missionary and relief methods and transnational networks which were utilised by the Action Chrétienne en (...) Orient and other twentieth-century mission agencies in their work among Armenian communities. (shrink)

The paper relates the concept of a European political identity to the development of the European Community's foreign policy. After a brief review of the idea of political identity as it developed in Europe over the last five centuries, the paper relates this concept to that of liberal democracy. It then turns to the European Community and the growth of its foreign policy. It addresses two questions: Could the concept of political loyalty to a territorially defined identity be (...) replaced by that of institutional loyalty to not one, but a variety of overlapping institutions? Secondly, can the development of the European Community's foreign policy contribute to the development of a European sense of identity? Two short case studies, one on Yugoslavia, and one on economic aid to Eastern Europe, illustrate recent European Community foreign policy. The paper concludes with some speculations as to the future European political system and its applicability to other parts of the world. (shrink)

The technological, economic and political advances of the 20th and 21st centuries have established new conditions for the development of civilization. The world economy has simultaneously expanded (the number of states/organization participating in world trade or the volume of heterogeneous transactions) and shrunk (close interrelations between transactions, no matter their geographic origins). Economic policy has gained an indispensable role in the creation of order in international relations and foreign policy. The tendency to prioritize foreign policy aims towards economic (...) policy aims has resulted in ‘reverse flow’, i.e. foreign policy has become a central part of national economic policy. The engagement of external action services and public budget in economic promotion and investments triggers (inter alia) the ethics dilemma. The mentioned ethical aspect is often omitted when discussing ‘the economic foreign policy’. For instance, the ethics dilemma can appear when development and humanitarian aid are taken into account or when it comes to assessing the results (and membership) of economic missions. In this context, the author analyses the Polish foreign policy example and attempts to answer two questions. First, are the economic activities performed by external action services effective? Second, are the mentioned activities in accordance with the social ethical code of conduct? The author focuses on three elements – development and humanitarian aid, the participation of Polish diplomats in economic promotion, and economic missions. (shrink)

In 1992, the Walloon Region modified its investment incentive legislation. The new legislation applies the notion of SME to any business employing up to 250 people and which turnover does not exceed 20 million ECU, and replaces the former interest subsidies and capital premiums by a grant calculated as a percentage of investment. According to the size of the business, the activity sector and the area, the maximum aid may vary from 13 to 21 %. The grant total percentage is (...) calculated by summing up the percentage of aid obtained for five criteria under which job creation is by far the most important. The new legislation gives a partial answer to traditional criticisms against investment incentives. First of all it aims at reducing the risk of accelerated substitution of capital for Labour. Besides, it simplifies adminsitrative procedures and reduces the "sprinkling". It should also reduce the risk of inefficient allocation of resources thatarises when grants go to loss-making entreprises. But the question of whether investment incentives actually increase the level of investment remains largely unanswered. Evidence suggests that investment incentives might have contributed to attract foreign investments hut have little impact on thelevel of domestic investment. Nevertheless, as far as SMEs are concerned, public grants might contribute to increased investment not by reducing the cost or increasing the profitability of the project but rather by increasing the means available in the business. (shrink)

This article seeks to contribute to the discussion of how the gender gap in foreign and security policy issues can be explained by examining how early the gender differences manifest themselves. All told, 251 Swedish children between the ages of six and nine were interviewed about their views on foreign aid, refugee policy, weapons exports, armed resistance, self-defense, and concern or fear about the outbreak of war. Opinion differences between boys and girls were then compared to the differences (...) between adult men and women. The results showed that the differences between boys and girls were very small or nonexistent. Only in the question of fear about the outbreak of war did girls differ significantly from boys, displaying a much higher degree of worry. In the conclusion, these results are discussed in relation to different theories about the causes of the gender gap in foreign policy issues. (shrink)

The author argues that there are serious problems from the standpoint of Catholic social teaching in making the forcible spreading of democracy an objective of U.S. foreign policy. He argues that U.S. policy, in light of Catholic social teaching, should be prudently interventionist—but not primarily in a military sense—in promoting human rights, diffusing international tensions, and peacekeeping. Also, the author discusses such questions as shaping U.S. foreign policy in conjunction with allies and foreign aid, in light of (...) Catholic social teaching. (shrink)

Do basic human values facilitate prosocial behaviour on a global scale? This study, for the first time, analyzes the effect of values on prosocial behaviour in the context of public support for foreign development assistance. Support for foreign development assistance is a prosocial act intended to benefit the less fortunate in developing nations. Despite a plethora of evidence showing the effect of personal values on prosocial behaviour, the literature has neglected the value origins of support for development assistance. (...) I argue that personal values play a crucial role in shaping individuals’ support for foreign development assistance. Using data from nationally representative samples covering 11 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, I show that self-transcendence and openness to change values, as defined by Schwartz’ theory of values, are reliable predictors of support for foreign development assistance. By linking human values to foreign development aid, this study expands the purview of values research to the domain of global governance and opens up new avenues of interdisciplinary inquiry that apply theories of values to different dimensions of world affairs. (shrink)

As individuals we often face complex issues about which we must weigh evidence and come to conclusions. Corporations also have to make decisions on the basis of strong and compelling arguments. Legal practitioners, compelled by arguments for or against a proposition and underpinned by the weight of evidence, are often required to make judgments that affect the lives of others. Medical doctors face similar decisions. Governments make purchasing decisions—for example, for expensive military equipment—or decisions in the areas of public or (...) foreign policy. These issues involve many arguments on all sides of difficult debates. These issues involve understanding the arguments of others and being able to make objections and provide rebuttals to objections. Students in universities deal with arguments all the time. A major purpose of a university education—regardless of subject matter—is to teach students how to read, understand, and respond to complex arguments. The ability to do this makes for highly employable, adaptable, and reflectively critical individuals. We often call the skill of marshaling arguments and assessing them “critical thinking.” All universities claim to instill the skill of critical thinking in their graduates and routinely note this in their advertising and promotional documents. This short paper outlines one way this skill can be taught. (shrink)

International food aid has long been known to be motivated by domestic and foreign policy objectives as well as humanitarian concerns. The policy objectives sometimes complicate delivery of emergency food, and lead to situations that result in adverse effects on the economic and agricultural systems of recipient countries. Despite the long history and extensive documentation of such effects, they were observed to occur once again during the 1992 Somalia intervention. This intervention encountered many frequently described barriers to effective use (...) of emergency food aid. It also set a new precedent; for the first time, troops were deployed to enforce the safe delivery of food. This action led to the creation of an army of occupation engaged in military conflict with the very people it had come to serve and, eventually, to further deterioration of the country's food economy. The Somalia intervention provided further evidence for the need to uncouple humanitarian food aid from other policy objectives, and to design and manage emergency and long-term food aid programs to maximize benefits, minimize adverse consequences, and strengthen local agricultural production and marketing systems. (shrink)