A lot of people, ranging from the respected Fraser Institute to African economists, regard foreign aid programs as mostly useless.
Others, like U.S. libertarian presidential contender Ron Paul, see foreign aid as an instrument that props up dictators — a view, sadly, substantiated by looking at the African continent.
Canada, for instance, allocates $5 billion a year for foreign aid — mainly to 20 countries (down from the 25 when Paul Martin was PM), and mostly in the western hemisphere.
Significantly, Freedom House studied 228 cases of U.S. intervention in foreign countries from 1975 to 2005, and discovered in 96 cases there had been no perceptive changes, while in 69 cases things were worse. In 63 cases, there was more democracy.
In 2002 King Mswati III, of Swaziland, purchased a $45-million royal jet, so he could fly to various countries to beg for aid money — this is a country where 65% of the 1.2 million population lives in abject poverty, 33% are HIV positive, and the royal jet cost twice as much as the annual health budget.
Political parties are banned in Swaziland, but foreign aid isn’t.
http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/08/08/the-problem-with-foreign-aid
No comments:
Post a Comment