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
15 - U.S. Economic Assistance to West Africa
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
This chapter begins by examining the West Africa Regional Program (WARP), the bilateral economic assistance program geared toward helping the citizens of the following countries in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the program was provided through capital transfers and technical assistance.
As can be seen in table 15.1, U.S. economic assistance has been given to every country in West Africa. Also evident is the fact that aid disbursements have not been consistent over the years, either in terms of level of funding or in terms of continuity; such factors can make development planning quite difficult. The four biggest recipients of aid overall have been Ghana, Liberia, Mali, and Senegal. However, since 2000, Nigeria has emerged as the biggest recipient of aid to West Africa.
An examination of tables 15.1 and 15.2 reveals that four West African countries began receiving U.S. economic assistance even before they got their independence. The first recipient was Nigeria in 1953. It was followed by Benin, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Togo, all receiving their first aid packages in 1959. This was during their periods of limited self-rule before achieving independent status. The countries receiving aid included both those colonized by Britain and those colonized by France.
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- Information
- The United States and West AfricaInteractions and Relations, pp. 268 - 304Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008