While foreign assistance can sometimes assist in promoting economic growth and development, far more important are a country's economic policies, the rule of law, and good governance. Rather than focusing on the level of aid, America should focus its efforts on encouraging developing countries to adopt policies conducive to economic growth and development.
Issues 2012 provides candidates for elected office the ability to quickly identify the key issues of the day and present clear policy recommendations, supported by facts, for addressing them. Read More.
For over a decade, The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation have tracked the march of economic freedom around the world with the influential Index of Economic Freedom. Read More.
The current U.N. development system promises too much and demands too little of its member governments. Its autocracy, secrecy, bureaucracy, and self-aggrandizement reflect the worst of its members. Read More.
Egypt’s transitional military regime threw down a direct challenge to the Obama Administration on Monday when government prosecutors announced that 43 people, including 19 Americans, will stand trial for allegedly interfering in Egypt’s internal politics. Egyptian officials claim that they illegally funded political groups in Egypt’s parliamentary elections, while the… Read more
From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. … Read more
Peter Brookes discusses US aid money going to the Middle East. … Read more
The United Nations General Assembly held a high-level meeting on September 22 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the adoption of The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action at the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. The Durban commemoration (also called Durban III)… Read more
The effectiveness of the Administration’s “new era of engagement”[1] to build goodwill toward the U.S. at the U.N. based upon mutual respect and cooperation will be tested this week when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas formally requests U.N. membership for the Palestinian delegation. Despite… Read more
My name is James Phillips, and I am the Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation. Since… Read more
Abstract: Negotiations to sell or otherwise transfer the Robert Moses Playground property in New York City to the United Nations for the construction of a second tower have proceeded quickly over the summer, and a final deal appears… Read more
This summer, the Horn of Africa confronted its worst drought in decades. Estimates indicate that more than 12 million people across the region are vulnerable to starvation. Somalia, lacking a credible government and beset by internal instability and conflict, has been particularly hard hit, and the United Nations has formally… Read more
Abstract: The anticorruption movement has been making progress—bad guys, from national governments to private corporations, have had their feet held to the fire, being forced to shape up or pay restitution. More and more, the global community is recognizing… Read more
The Security Assistance Act of 2011 (Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2012, H.R. 2583), which authorizes appropriations for the State Department for fiscal year (FY) 2012, represents a strong, back-to-basics answer to the Obama Administration’s overly ambitious attempts at redefining U.S. foreign relations. The bill’s aim is to tie… Read more
Executive Summary The massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011, and the following release of radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, represent one of the greatest disasters to strike the nation… Read more
Abstract: Since 2000 about 95 percent of U.N. member states that receive U.S. assistance have voted against the United States most of the time in the U.N. General Assembly on non-consensus votes. The U.S. should inform aid recipients… Read more
The source and amounts of all U.S. funding to the myriad number of organizations affiliated with the United Nations are difficult to track accurately. This difficulty prompted Congress to pass legislation requiring the Administration to report annually on U.S. contributions to the U.N. A recent report to Congress by the… Read more
Abstract: Governments and large agribusinesses are increasingly using the environmentalist movement and its policy arm of green nongovernmental organizations to justify imposing protectionist non-tariff barriers on developing countries. Wrong-headed environmental policies and “green” protectionism are contributing to a resurgence of malaria in some countries… Read more
Delivered May 9, 2007 A strong and effective education system in Pakistan will help to ensure that the country steers toward a path of stability, moderation, and prosperity in the years to come, and should therefore be a top priority for Washington in its relations with Islamabad. Lack of adequate education opportunities in Pakistan has contributed… Read more
Cutting off all U.S. aid to Pakistan would spell disaster for U.S. interests in the region. But sticking with the status quo -- providing generous assistance to a country with an increasingly defiant posture toward the U.S. -- also makes little sense. The Obama administration’s announcement… Read more
Abstract: The record of development assistance as a catalyst for long-term sustainable economic growth is abysmal. Perhaps the only exception is the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which requires countries to demonstrate foremost a commitment to good governance, sound economic policies, and the well-being of… Read more
Abstract: Countries that receive U.S. foreign aid routinely oppose U.S. diplomatic initiatives and vote against the U.S. in the United Nations. While linking humanitarian and security aid to support of U.S. policy priorities would undermine the purposes and effect of that aid, the effectiveness… Read more
During their June 16 summit, Presidents Barack Obama and Lee Myung-bak will discuss a daunting agenda filled with challenges. Though overshadowed by North Korean provocations, a critically important issue for both countries is reviving the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA). Although signed in June 2007, the agreement has… Read more
The year 2008 marked the 30th anniversary of the beginning of market reforms in China -- and perhaps the third anniversary of their ending. Since the present Chinese leadership took power, market-oriented liberalization has been minor. And as such policies have wound down, they have been supplanted by renewed state intervention: price controls, the… Read more
U.S. contributions to the U.N. system reached a record level of $7.692 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2010—a staggering 21 percent increase over FY 2009.[1] This is the third consecutive year in which U.S. contributions set new records. The current budgetary crisis should focus congressional… Read more
The U.S. unilateral operation to track and kill Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan has raised several questions about the sustainability of the U.S.–Pakistan partnership in the fight against global terrorism. Relations between Islamabad and Washington were already strained, and the bin Laden operation has deepened the rift. It laid… Read more
Senator Tom Coburn’s (R–OK) plan to reduce the federal deficit by $9 trillion over the next 10 years includes cuts to...… Read more
In the midst of Congress’s roaring debate over budget cuts, Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwartz weighed in last...… Read more
"What’s needed most right now is creating the conditions where assistance is no longer needed." "Let’s move beyond the...… Read more
Heads of state from across the developing world arrived in New York last week for the annual United Nations meetings....… Read more
The United States spent $28.7 billion dollars in 2009 on official development assistance, more than any other country...… Read more
Why is an act from the 1920s hindering a more efficient effort to clean up the Gulf coast? And why are politicians...… Read more
"We were not prepared to make the best use of foreign support. Some foreign governments sought to contribute aid that...… Read more
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group often seen as an exclusive club of rich countries,...… Read more
Back in January, President Obama said that he has no intention of sending U.S. troops into terrorist havens. However,...… Read more
Increasing spending on the State Department and international affairs while freezing discretionary domestic spending is...… Read more
President
Director, Center for International Trade and Economics and the Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Economic Freedom
Research Fellow For Economic Freedom and Growth
Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs
Senior Policy Analyst