The U.S. Should Link Foreign Aid And U.N. General Assembly Voting

From The Heritage Foundation and The CATO Institute:






Foreign Policy/International Affairs





The U.S. Should Link Foreign Aid and U.N. General Assembly Voting



by Brett Schaefer, Anthony Kim



The Heritage Foundation



August 09, 2011



Backgrounder





Countries that receive U.S. foreign aid routinely oppose U.S. diplomatic initiatives and vote against the U.S. in the United Nations. While linking humanitarian and security aid to support of U.S. policy priorities would undermine the purposes and effect of that aid, the effectiveness of development aid in improving economic growth and development among recipients remains dubious. Therefore, the U.S. has no compelling reason preventing it from explicitly linking disbursement of development assistance to support for U.S. policy priorities in the United Nations. The U.S. should also work to strengthen and build coalitions of economically or politically free nations in the U.N. because economically free countries and politically free governments tend to vote with the U.S. more consistently.





URL: www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/08/The-US-Should-Link-Foreign-Aid-and-UN-General-Assembly-Voting