The Ground Has Shifted

Foreign Assistance and Foreign Policy in U.S. History

While distinct as a historic disruption due to its scale and speed, this is not the first shift in the development landscape since the modern era of U.S. foreign assistance began. Every administration over the last 80 years has aimed to align foreign assistance with its strategic objectives and policy goals.

National security priorities have historically been a major driver of U.S. foreign assistance. For example, the Vietnam War era, the post-9/11 period, and the period following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine all saw increases in resources and attention from U.S. aid agencies.

Over time, a proliferation of aid and development actors reshaped the field of potential partners, programs, and options. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) club of donors expanded its ranks, and China's Belt and Road Initiative, as well as related efforts, led to significant development financing across the Global South. Gulf states and other emerging powers have also vastly expanded their engagement; the United Arab Emirates is now the fourth-largest source of capital in Africa, and Qatar, India, Saudi Arabia, and others are increasingly involved in global development efforts.

Civil society organizations, philanthropic foundations, and corporations have all expanded their roles as stakeholders in the aid system over the years as well.

In more recent decades, some dominant trends have shaped development efforts across multiple U.S. administrations. For example, over the past 25 years, a rising focus on leveraging businesses and private capital while better integrating technology and innovation has led to the establishment of many programs and organizational divisions. Within USAID, these included the Development Credit Authority, Global Development Alliances, and the Global Development Lab, among others, as well as multiple private sector engagement strategies. The transformation of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation into the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation serves as another illustration.

A focus on data, evidence, and results deepened and spread across all development programming, alongside large investments in global health programs spurred by the United States' historic commitment to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The pursuit of greater aid effectiveness led to transparency initiatives and efforts to increase partner-country ownership. Various attempts to diversify the U.S. government's implementing partners and localize greater proportions of assistance programming permeated the initiatives of the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations.

Just as global health programming grew as a share of U.S. foreign assistance, so did humanitarian aid in response to mounting impacts from conflicts, disasters, and population displacements. While health and humanitarian aid made up only 19.9 percent of total U.S. foreign assistance in 2001, this percentage jumped to 41.2 percent in 2020. Additionally, the impacts of climate change have exacerbated threats to public health, humanitarian crises, and many other aspects of development.

Various trends and national security imperatives have always shaped U.S. foreign assistance and development efforts. Some of the current pressures have been building for a long time, while others are new. Even though U.S. international development and humanitarian efforts have experienced many changes throughout the years, the present shifts represent a fundamental break with long-established approaches. That break presents challenges, and it also presents opportunities.