United States Assistance Policy in Africa ─ Exceptional Power

From the end of World War II through to the first Obama administration, development assistance in Africa has been viewed as an essential instrument of U.S. foreign policy. Although many would characterise it as a form of aid aimed at enhancing the lives of those in the developing world, it can also be viewed as a tool for advancing U.S. national security objectives.

Using a theoretical framework based on "power", United States Assistance Policy in Africa examines the American assistance discourse, its formation and justification in relation to historical contexts, and its operation on the African continent. Beginning with a problematization of development as a concept that structures hierarchies between groups of people, the book highlights how cultural, political and economic conceptions influence the American assistance discourse. The book further highlights the relationship between American national security and its assistance policy in Africa during the Cold War, the post-Cold War, and the post-9/11 contexts.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Development Studies, Political Science and International Relations with particular interest in U.S. foreign policy, USAID and/or African studies.

Shai A. Divon is a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Faculty of Landscape and Society at the Norwegian University of the Life Sciences, Norway. He has extensive military and security experience and has worked and carried out research in Africa, Asia, the United States and the Middle East.

Bill Derman is Professor Emeritus at the Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Faculty of Landscape and Society at the Norwegian University of the Life Sciences, Norway and at the Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, USA.