Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part One Trade and Politics in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
- Part Two Forging Cultural Connections: America in Africa
- Part Three Forging Cultural Connections: Africa in America
- Part Four U.S. Political and Economic Interests in West Africa
- 13 The United States and West Africa: The Institutionalization of Foreign Relations in an Age of Ideological Ferment
- 14 U.S. Foreign Policy toward West Africa: Democracy, Economic Development, and Security
- 15 U.S. Economic Assistance to West Africa
- 16 The West African Enterprise Network: Business Globalists, Interregional Trade, and U.S. Interventions
- 17 Poverty Alleviation in Sierra Leone and the Role of U.S. Foreign Aid: An Institutional Trap Analysis
- 18 Post–Cold War U.S. Foreign Policy toward Liberia and Sierra Leone
- Part Five Looking toward the Future: U.S.–West African Linkages in the Twenty-first Century
- List of Contributors
- Index
- Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora
17 - Poverty Alleviation in Sierra Leone and the Role of U.S. Foreign Aid: An Institutional Trap Analysis
from Part Four - U.S. Political and Economic Interests in West Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part One Trade and Politics in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
- Part Two Forging Cultural Connections: America in Africa
- Part Three Forging Cultural Connections: Africa in America
- Part Four U.S. Political and Economic Interests in West Africa
- 13 The United States and West Africa: The Institutionalization of Foreign Relations in an Age of Ideological Ferment
- 14 U.S. Foreign Policy toward West Africa: Democracy, Economic Development, and Security
- 15 U.S. Economic Assistance to West Africa
- 16 The West African Enterprise Network: Business Globalists, Interregional Trade, and U.S. Interventions
- 17 Poverty Alleviation in Sierra Leone and the Role of U.S. Foreign Aid: An Institutional Trap Analysis
- 18 Post–Cold War U.S. Foreign Policy toward Liberia and Sierra Leone
- Part Five Looking toward the Future: U.S.–West African Linkages in the Twenty-first Century
- List of Contributors
- Index
- Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora
Summary
Introduction
The nature of poverty in Sierra Leone is particularly unusual. A small country with a size of approximately 27,699 square miles and a moderate population size estimated at 6.4 million in 2004, this West African country is endowed with a reasonable supply of natural resources such as diamonds, rutile, gold, iron, timber, cocoa, coffee, and fish. In spite of these resources, Sierra Leone's economy has continued to perform dismally since the country attained independence. Having won the unenviable status of “poorest nation” several times in the last two decades, and with a human development index consistently estimated as the worst in the world, Sierra Leone is rated as one of the worst development cases in the developing world. The nature of poverty in Sierra Leone defies simple analysis.
While standards of living have continued to improve for many countries in the world, Sierra Leone has made little progress in this area. According to United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reports, life expectancy for Sierra Leoneans actually declined from 38.9 years in 2001 to 34.3 years in 2004. This does not compare well to a life expectancy of 46 years for an average West African. With the average person in Sierra Leone expected to live for 35 years in 1970, this country has barely shown any signs of improvement in the quality of life of its people.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The United States and West AfricaInteractions and Relations, pp. 325 - 354Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008