The George W. Bush Administration's aid strategy and its impact on development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Much of Sub-Saharan Africa economically and democratically lags behind the rest of the world. Many wealthy countries have worked to speed up Africa's development through the use of foreign aid. The George W. Bush Administration utilized aid in their efforts to help eliminate poverty and deepen democracy. They disbursed aid through a novel government agency named the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). This thesis gauges the usefulness of the MCC and measures its impact on economic and democratic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. To provide an assessment of the MCC, I examine the association between foreign aid disbursed by the MCC and resulting economic and democratic development. The conclusions are drawn by employing a quantitative methodology using difference of means analysis and bivariate analysis. The empirical research suggests that aid disbursed through the MCC is producing only slight economic and democratic growth. I conclude the study with a case study that corroborates the empirical findings. This study brings into question the general effectiveness of foreign aid and further suggests that Africa may need another solution to underdevelopment that may go beyond the reach of aid planners.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Political Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• McGarrity, Andrew

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14607

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14607