The Bush Administration, Debt Relief, and the War on Terror: Reforming the International Development System as Part of the Neoconservative Project

Part of a special issue on war, crisis, and transition. The writer examines the rationale for the Bush administration's debt relief policies. He notes an apparent paradox, whereby the administration pushed for full debt cancellation for the world's most heavily indebted poor countries at t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Williams, Matthew S. 1974- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2008
In: Social justice
Year: 2008, Volume: 35, Issue: 3, Pages: 49-65
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
World Bank
Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946-
Counterterrorism
International Relations
Decision making in international relations
Finance
Developing Countries
War on Terrorism, 2001-2009
Economic assistance, American
Description
Summary:Part of a special issue on war, crisis, and transition. The writer examines the rationale for the Bush administration's debt relief policies. He notes an apparent paradox, whereby the administration pushed for full debt cancellation for the world's most heavily indebted poor countries at the same time as it embraced a developmental agenda intended to tighten donors' regulatory discipline over these same countries through the creation of ex ante performance-based standards for aid. The writer draws on an analysis of White House testimony to Congress from 1999 to 2005 to argue that these seemingly contradictory policies fit together coherently. He demonstrates that the Bush administration's reforms are, in fact, an element of a distinctive neoconservative foreign policy.