Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Adjustment in the role of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in sub-Saharan Africa |
Author: | Hendrickson, Roshen |
Year: | 2011 |
Periodical: | Africa Today (ISSN 1527-1978) |
Volume: | 58 |
Issue: | 4 |
Pages: | 67-86 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Subsaharan Africa United States |
Subjects: | foreign investments foreign policy economic development |
External link: | http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_today/v058/58.4.hendrickson.pdf |
Abstract: | The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an American government agency that promotes private investment in developing nations, has been a contested agency since its inception in 1969. Critics contend that it subsidizes big business, distorts market signals, and supports projects that have a detrimental effect on local communities. Its supporters argue that it is central to the US foreign development-assistance strategy. In this article, the author analyses the historical debate over the role of OPIC and shows how systemic and domestic pressures triggered adjustments in its activities that enabled its survival. She illustrates these adjustments with an analysis of the role of OPIC in sub-Saharan Africa that draws out both the promotion of US economic interests and the evolution of progressive governance guidelines that increase its chances of promoting sustainable development. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |