American Foreign Aid

Foreign Policy and Foreign Aid Foreign aid is a mere part of the enormous fiscal spending of the United States of America. Foreign aid, which happens to include the State Department budget, accounts for approximately one percent of our federal spending, or about $56 billion dollars in the 2013 budget of President Barack Obama. If adding in foreign military assistance, such as the money we lend out to train the armies of foreign armies and to acquire weapons, 14 million must be tacked on. American foreign aid is given out to accomplish goals such as helping build a more democratic and secure world of well governed states, reducing widespread poverty, acting responsibly in creating more secure states within the international system. The 56 billion dollars lent out by the United States accomplishes these goals. One of the major goals in the foreign policy of the United States is “to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world composed of well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people”. This goal has been evident in the United States ever since the end of World War Two, where the fear of communism filled the hearts of Americans across the nation. Containment started after the “Red Scare” and has grown into a goal of the United States to spread the morals of democracy and create more sound, secure states. Afghanistan is among the most popular of states that we are hoping to set up a secure democracy within. $1,017.8 million dollars given for democracy, human rights, and governance. More specifically, $447.2

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was given for good governance, in order to support the ideas such as public participation and oversight, as well as the separation of powers through checks and balances, two key principles of democracy. In further breakdown, $47.1 million was given for rule of law and human rights, to enforce the law that people and institutions alike must abide by the state, as well as remain consistent with Human Rights Law....