AID AND INFLUENCE: THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ON U.S. INTERESTS IN LATIN AMERICA

Within the last decade, Russia and China have greatly expanded their presence in Latin America—often in ways deemed threatening to U.S. national interests. Partly echoing the first half of the Cold War, the U.S. aims to maintain influence in the region while these states seek to counter any advances. At the same time, the current administration has proposed major cuts to the foreign aid budget. Many experts worry that large cuts could diminish U.S. influence and harm bilateral partnerships. Accordingly, the two case studies contained in this thesis assessed the impact of U.S. bilateral aid on influence in LATAM during the 1950s and 1960s. They both relied on primary U.S. sources (e.g., embassy reporting, congressional hearings, and now-declassified documents), as well as LATAM officials' statements. The research found that bilateral U.S. aid is an effective means to gain influence in the region when it (1) meets needs of recipients, (2) is cooperative and encourages interaction between U.S. personnel and Latin Americans, (3) is somewhat altruistic, and (4) respects recipients' autonomy. Conversely, aid damages influence when these conditions are reversed. Other tools of U.S. foreign policy, as well as many other factors, also contributed to shifts in influence. These are briefly addressed in each chapter to highlight the complexity and fleeting nature of U.S. influence overall.

Department dc:contributor.department

National Security Affairs (NSA)

Grantor dc:publisher

Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Pennington, Aaron A.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Darnton, Christopher N.

Statement dc:rights

• This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10945/64900

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/64900