Yet most food aid flows as another means of budgetary support for favored U.S. allies. And food aid, it turns out, has additional drawbacks as a tool for positive change abroad. Exploring U.S. development assistance and food aid pushes us to think critically about the very meaning of development itself - and how and by whom it can be achieved. Moreover, understanding both programs is vital to grasping how our government views our interests. Washington believes that any economic system not like ours, must be like theirs.
Economies are either capitalist or communist.
In many cases, basic economic reform is needed - badly needed. But Washington's dogmatic stance prevents it from seeing that the prerequisites for the success of its economic formula simply do not exist in many third-world countries. Thus, we are not suggesting that a reform of foreign aid requires selfless humanitarianism. The stakes are high. Once U.S. foreign policy, and in particular U.S. foreign aid, is narrowly predicated on a Soviet expansionist threat, virtually any action by our government is justified - no matter how it violates American democratic values or counters the needs of the hungry for change.