TY - JOUR
T1 - Private enterprise, international development, and the cold war
AU - Kapstein, Ethan B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - This article sheds light on the role of foreign direct investment as an instrument for economic development and, in turn, for the advancement of U.S. foreign policy goals during the Cold War. From the earliest days of the Cold War, and especially after the U.S.-Soviet competition for influence in the developing world began in the 1950s, the United States sought to promote private enterprise on behalf of U.S. goals. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, U.S. officials believed that foreign investment would suffice to fuel international development, obviating the need for official development assistance. These hopes, however, were largely disappointed. On the one hand, U.S.-based multinational companies preferred to invest in the industrial world; on the other hand, some Third World governments were uninterested in promoting private enterprise rather than state-led development. In part because foreign investment did not meet expectations, the U.S. government ended up elaborating an official foreign aid program instead.
AB - This article sheds light on the role of foreign direct investment as an instrument for economic development and, in turn, for the advancement of U.S. foreign policy goals during the Cold War. From the earliest days of the Cold War, and especially after the U.S.-Soviet competition for influence in the developing world began in the 1950s, the United States sought to promote private enterprise on behalf of U.S. goals. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, U.S. officials believed that foreign investment would suffice to fuel international development, obviating the need for official development assistance. These hopes, however, were largely disappointed. On the one hand, U.S.-based multinational companies preferred to invest in the industrial world; on the other hand, some Third World governments were uninterested in promoting private enterprise rather than state-led development. In part because foreign investment did not meet expectations, the U.S. government ended up elaborating an official foreign aid program instead.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099502082&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85099502082&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1162/jcws_a_00967
DO - 10.1162/jcws_a_00967
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85099502082
SN - 1520-3972
VL - 22
SP - 113
EP - 145
JO - Journal of Cold War Studies
JF - Journal of Cold War Studies
IS - 4
ER -