Join us in a discussion about foreign aid with Professor Lindsay Dolan (Wesleyan University) and Professor Matthew Winters (University of Illinois).
The Trump administration's dramatic reduction in the scope and scale of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has raised new questions about the impact, value, and meaning of foreign assistance. In the first part of this talk, Prof. Lindsay Dolan (Wesleyan University) will discuss the evidence regarding the public opinion consequences of foreign assistance. How does awareness of foreign aid flows affect people's attitudes toward the foreign aid donor and toward their own government? Is it true that foreign aid creates soft power? Does foreign aid undermine the legitimacy of aid-receiving governments? In the second part of the talk, Prof. Matthew Winters (University of Illinois) will discuss public support for foreign aid in donor countries. What do people know about foreign aid? Which groups in the population are most supportive of foreign aid, and what kinds of information make people more or less supportive of aid? How has the American public reacted to the dismantling of USAID?
