Human Rights and US Bilateral Aid Allocations to Africa

Abstract

Almost fifteen years have passed since the initial efforts of Congress to incorporate human rights concerns in US bilateral aid decisions. During this period new organizations and procedures have been established within the US government to monitor human rights practices abroad, and laws have been passed which specifically link human rights practices to foreign aid decisions. These actions have drawn criticism from both sides of the ideological spectrum. Some liberal critics have argued that human rights concerns have been largely subordinated to economic and national security interests in US aid decisions, while conservatives have often maintained that human rights initiatives have negatively affected US economic and national security interests.