No Longer on the Front Lines: U. S. Bi-Lateral Assistance and the Role of the Agency for International Development

After fifty years of engagement, the Cold War is over and the United States has won. The former Soviet Union has gone from being a united adversary to a collection of independent states, each reliant on outside assistance to help finance its economic recovery. Similarly, the Berlin Wall has fallen and the two Germanies have reunited. With the end of Apartheid and the recent referendum in South Africa, for possibly the first time in history a controlling group has voted itself out of power. Within the course of a decade, almost all of the countries in Latin America have gone from being dictatorships to democracies. And for the first time since the Camp David Accords, the Middle East is engaging in collective peace negotiations which may lead to settlement of one of this century's longest disputes. In short, the world has recently witnessed monumental political changes, potentially of an order of magnitude never before experienced. These changes will inevitably redefine the course of history, and shape how the world enters the 21st century.