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Activities, Causes and Process of Liquidation of U.S. Agency for International Development

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Rubric: USA: Politics and Society
DOI: 10.20542/0131-2227-2026-70-2-116-126
EDN: INMLLU
S. Samuylov, ORCID 0000-0003-4033-717X, fpcenter@rambler.ru
Georgy Arbatov Institute of the USA and Canada Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (ISCRAN), 2/3, Khlebnyi per., Moscow, 121069, Russian Federation.
PDF (RUS)

Received 04.06.2025. Revised 07.08.2025. Accepted 24.11.2025.

Abstract. The article examines the reasons for the creation of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the stages of its evolution under George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. A certain reform of USAID under Bush administration was carried out in order to reconfigure it to promote democracy, which should contribute to strengthening the national security of the United States. However, as a result, there was no global promotion of democracy. The Obama administration’s emphasis on significantly expanding the scope of the Agency’s activities has not found support in Congress. During his first presidency, Donald Trump tried to merge USAID with the State Department, but Congress did not allow this on a bipartisan basis. With the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term as president, he and the billionaire Elon Musk took a tough course to eliminate this Agency. Earlier, in his 2022 monographic study, the author came to the conclusion that at present there is the sharpest struggle between the two irreconcilable alternatives for the possible development of the United States, embodied by the Trumpists, on the one hand, and the Democrats, on the other. The Trumpists intend to maintain the leading role of whites in the United States, the Democrats, considering them racists, seek to reduce them to second-class citizens. The liquidation of the USAID was one of the manifestations of this sharpest struggle, because, as the author believes, the Trumpists considered the Agency as a political and bureaucratic citadel of ultra-liberals and Democrats with their active support for the LGBTQI community.

Keywords: Agency for International Development, foreign aid, diplomacy of transformation, promotion of democracy, color revolutions, multi-partner world, split of the political elite, liquidation of the agency


REFERENCES

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SOURCES

1. Special Message to the Congress on Foreign Aid. 28.05.1969. The American Presidency Project. Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-foreign-aid (accessed 06.05.2025).

2. The National Security Strategy of the United States of America. March 2006. Available at: https://history.defense.gov/Portals/70/Documents/nss/nss2006.pdf (accessed 06.05.2025).

3. Major Foreign Aid Initiatives Under the Obama Administration: A Wrap-Up. Summary. CRS Report. Order Code R 44727. 04.01.2017. Washington, Congressional research service, 2017. Available at: https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R44727/R44727.3.pdf (accessed 06.05.2025).

4. Secretary Marco Rubio Appointed as Acting Administrator for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). U.S. Department of State, 03.02.2025. Available at: https://www.state.gov/secretary-marco-rubio-appointed-as-acting-administrator-for-the-united-states-agency-for-international-development-usaid/ (accessed 06.05.2025).

5. Musk Revealed Shocking Details about USAID Activities. RIA, 02.02.2025. (In Russ.) Available at: https://ria.ru/20250202/usaid-1996930948.html?ysclid=maqfphboec156576855 (accessed 10.05.2025).

6. What Is Elon Musk’s DOGE? And How Much Money Has It Saved US Taxpayers? The Malay Mail, 07.03.2025. Available at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2025/03/07/what-is-elon-musks-doge-and-how-much-money-has-it-saved-us-taxpayers/168772 (accessed 10.05.2025).

7. At USAID Waste and Abuse Runs Deep. White House, 03.02.2025. Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/02/at-usaid-waste-and-abuse-runs-deep/ (accessed 15.05.2025).

8. Rubio Announced the Closure of 83% of USAID Programs. Kommersant, 10.03.2025. (In Russ.) Available at: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/7563986?ysclid=mhou23mm34953432228 (accessed 15.05.2025). 


For citation:
Samuylov S. Activities, Causes and Process of Liquidation of U.S. Agency for International Development. World Eñonomy and International Relations, 2026, vol. 70, no. 2, pp. 116–126. https://doi.org/10.20542/0131-2227-2026-70-2-116-126 EDN: INMLLU

Contents World Eñonomy and International Relations. 2026, vol. 70, no. 2

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