Evan Lieberman, director of CIS and Total Professor of Political Science and Contemporary Africa, reflects on more than a year since the closure of USAID and Americans' indifference toward foreign development assistance.
It’s been just over a year since the Trump administration formally shuttered the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and canceled tens of billions of dollars in development assistance.
At the time, people who work in or study international development – myself included – were up in arms. USAID is a pillar of who we are as a nation!
A year later, I think it’s safe to say that in terms of the American political agenda, USAID’s demise hardly registers. I can’t imagine anyone running in the upcoming mid-term elections will be campaigning on the need to resuscitate the agency.
Why the apathy? Sure, many folks, including those from within USAID conceded that there were inefficiencies, and contradictions in development work. But there were also tons of wins and we’ve seen ongoing reports of the human toll from the loss of assistance.
Of course, many factors weigh in here, including 18 months of the current administration flooding the public agenda with so much change (and mayhem) that it’s been difficult to stay focused on any single issue. Most bandwidth for foreign policy has been taken up with war.
And yet, I believe a big part of the answer is that Americans themselves tend to draw very sharp lines along our borders when it comes to their sense of obligation to prevent human suffering. As a country, overall, we just don’t seem to care that much.
