Reassessing Foreign Aid

Foreign aid has been a key tool of American foreign policy ever since the Marshall Plan helped war-torn Europe rebuild after World War II. Multibillion-dollar aid programs helped win allies in the Cold War against the Soviet Union as well as trading partners for American industry. But in the post-Soviet era, critics say foreign aid's original rationale - countering the spread of communism - no longer exists. Moreover, they contend that U.S. economic assistance has failed dismally to boost developing countries and should be scaled back or eliminated. But supporters argue that programs to bolster free markets and improve education and health care guard against social ills that might lead to problems requiring far more costly U.S. military intervention.