CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | McBride, Mikala |
|---|---|
| Title | Motives Behind U.S. Foreign Aid Projects: the Case of Jordan |
| Summary | The United States of America is the largest global donor of foreign aid. Since 1946, the Middle East and North Africa have been the largest recipients of this assistance, often pivoting around Israel, Egypt, and Jordan as the top beneficiaries. This thesis will attempt to fill gaps in the literature regarding U.S. foreign aid distribution to Jordan. By employing process tracing through a single case study, this paper will analyze major changes in U.S. foreign assistance to Jordan. The U.S. increased or decreased its assistance in a timeline aligning with the following events: the War of 1967, the Gulf War, the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty, the Iraq War, the rise of ISIS, and the U.S. decision to move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. By undertaking a thorough investigation into the political objectives behind these decisions, this thesis confirms its hypothesis that U.S. foreign aid in Jordan is primarily used as a method of enforcing two main political objectives: gaining a strong position in the region and maintaining the existence and security of Israel. Alternate hypotheses, which propose that foreign aid is devoted to improving democratic and economic development levels are also examined, but do not provide satisfactory results. In the long run, despite a lack of satisfactory development achievements, Jordan remains economically dependent on U.S. aid. The conclusion of this paper calls not for the end of this funding, but rather a restructuring that would ultimately steer the country away from its current autocracy and extend aid benefits to the average Jordanian. |
| Supervisor | Li, Andrew X. |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/mcbride_mikala.pdf |
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