The United States has been giving out aid in various forms to further different courses in different target countries. Historically, the U.S. has been playing the role of world policeman which has greatly influenced the country’s position and image in the global sphere. Due to particular interest in democracy, the U.S. has been active in helping war-torn countries find political stability through the provision of military aid. A good example is Iraq whereby the U.S. military deployed soldiers into the Middle-Eastern country to fight against rebels and factions allied to terrorist groups. While such a gesture is commendable, there is a need to consider the effects of military foreign aid on the host country. In particular, civilians are part of the group that is greatly affected when their government accepts military foreign aid from America. That being the case, there is a need to explore the effect of military foreign aid on human rights for the civilians of the target country.
Literature Review
Various scholars have explored the impact of U.S. military foreign when it comes to the plight of the recipient country’s civilians. However, a considerable degree of authors determined that U.S. military foreign aid promotes negative outcomes on civilians. An author, Kim (2017) assessed the effect of U.S. military aid in South Korea. He explained that “ An unintended consequence of American military aid to South Korea, I would argue, was that it made room for economic aid to live up to its name as it was diverted from defense expenditures” (p. 35). The implication is that the South Korean government reallocated some of the resources to other sectors such as the economy following access to a reliable and stable military aid from America. In this regard, the argument is that the host country’s government felt assured that its military needs would be met following the alliance with the U.S. Whole that is the case, there are those who differ with such a view towards the impact of U.S. military aid. Choi and James (2017) focused on the effectiveness of U.S. foreign policy tools in promoting human rights conditions. The authors explained that “… contrary to Washington’s stated desire to promote human rights, all forms of US foreign policy intervention are either neutral in effect or linked to increases in the level of state repression” (Choi & James, p. 331).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Blanken and Sullivan (n.d.) explored the effect of foreign military assistance the quality of peach in post-conflict countries. The authors noted that low state capacity promotes the creation of nonstate armed groups thereby allowing space for violent criminal networks alongside other extralegal groups. However, the provision of foreign military aid such as from the U.S. ensures that such countries attain some level of stability when it comes to maintaining and prevention the re-occurrence of conflict (Blanken & Sullivan, n.d.). Nevertheless, at issue is the kind of impact felt on the civilians in the event of U.S. military foreign aid intervention. Jadoon (2018) discussed two effects of U.S. military aid which are persuasion and predation. The author’s argument was that “ U.S. military aid has a persuasion effect on state actors, which decreases a recipient state’s incentives and necessity to target civilians while enhancing their capacity to target rebels more precisely” (Jadoon, 2018, p. 777). However, when it comes to predation, there is a negative outcome in that development promotes or incentivizes the capturing of resources thereby promoting conflict alongside the use of collective violence (Jadoon, 2018).
Thus far, information acquired promotes the idea that provision of U.S. military aid has a two-fold effect. On one hand, there is the possibility of promoting the pursuit for peace through commanding state actors. However, that being the case, there is a likelihood of violation of civilians’ rights in the event that the government reallocates resources to economic development (as cited in Lee, 2011). Somewhat in support, Blanken and Sullivan (n.d.) explained that while military aid leads to diminished possibilities of conflict, there is no guarantee for the protection of human rights. In support, Omechileva, Carter and Campbell (2017) noted that critics within and outside the U.S. have assailed the country’s efforts to build mutually beneficial relations with foreign governments and militaries. The argument is that there is “… poor public oversight to misappropriation of aid because of corruption in grant recipient states” as well as “… ineffectiveness of foreign military aid in instilling respect for human rights” (Omechileva, Carter & Campbell, 2017, p. ). The recurrent argument is that U.S. military aid promotes, whether implicitly or explicitly, violation of human rights for civilians in grant recipient states.
Theory and Hypothesis
In the proposed study, the independent variable is the U.S. military foreign aid while the independent variable is human rights. In this case, the idea is to determine increased provision of U.S. military foreign aid helps promote human rights for civilians of the target country. For instance, Lee (2011) cited that regardless of the type of aid, U.S. intervention influence the target government’s respect and perception of human rights. However, the main concern is that there is a high likelihood for violation of civilians’ human rights in the recipient country. That being the case, more research is needed to determine the causes of such kind of an outcome.
H 0 : The provision of U.S. military foreign leads to a capitalistic effect on civilians’ human rights in the recipient country.
In order to address the case in question, international relations theory will be explored. In particular, the idea will be to address the various sub-theories under the umbrella of international relations which are realism, liberalism and constructivism. According to Wedderburn (2018) explored various IR theorists noting that their focus was mainly in the role of tragedy. The author focused on tragic sensibility which is considered a constituent part of greater thinking about politics. Wedderburn (2018) explored that, for instance, while liberalism promotes the aspects of equality and equity, state actors have the power to manipulate resources through corruption. The argument or concern is that the perception that the state should and is obligated to maintain equality across the country is flawed. Clarifying the said point of view, Jessop (2019) noted that the state functions as the instrument of class rule. Therefore, the said assumption overrides the expectation that a government is and should be the instrument or neutrality to promote equal effectiveness. In this case, the international relations theory provides a reliable foundation to effectively evaluate the effect of military aid on a government’s inclination to promote human rights.
Conclusion
The proposed study will focus on a rigorous exercise assessing the efficacy of U.S. military aid to foreign countries. The idea is to explore the various factors that determine recognition of human rights for civilians in the recipient state. While existing research is divided on the effect, that is whether negative or positive, there is a need to determine the nature of the force that determines whether human rights are recognized or not.
References
Choi, S., & James, P. (2017). Are US Foreign Policy Tools Effective in Improving Human Rights Conditions? The Chinese Journal of International Politics,10 (3), 331-356. doi:10.1093/cjip/pox010
Jessop, B. (1977). Recent theories of the capitalist state. Cambridge Journal of Economics,1 (4), 353-373. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.cje.a035370
Jadoon, A. (2017). Persuasion and Predation: The Effects of U.S. Military Aid and International Development Aid on Civilian Killings. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism,41 (10), 776-800. doi:10.1080/1057610x.2017.1353355
Kim, P. (2017). Guns over rice: The impact of US military aid on South Korean economic reconstruction. International Development and Cooperation Review, 9(1), 34-49.
Lee, H. (2011). The impact of U.S. foreign aid on human rights conditions in post-Cold War era . Graduate Theses and Dissertations. Retrieved from https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3075&context=etd
Omelicheva, M., Carter, B., & Campbell, L. B. (2017). Military Aid and Human Rights: Assessing the Impact of U.S. Security Assistance Programs. Political Science Quarterly,132 (1), 119-144. doi:10.1002/polq.12575
Wedderburn, A. (2017). Tragedy, genealogy and theories of International Relations. European Journal of International Relations,24 (1), 177-197. doi:10.1177/1354066116689131
