Development assistance, long seen as a giveaway to developing countries, is, according to Berrios' assessment, actually a giveaway to large for-profit U.S. contractors. Berrios shows that a small but influential number of contractors continue to be awarded most of the contracts, both in value and number, despite their average or substandard performance.

Berrios documents the commercial considerations that drive U.S. development assistance. The increasing delivery of development aid in the form of contracts has led contractors to increase their weight and influence on USAID's programs. As Berrios contends, the reasons for giving aid often have little to do with helping other countries, because, instead, it ends up mainly helping U.S. firms.

Little is known about contracting for development. The contracting process is often neither open nor competitive. Despite the talk of restructuring, USAID continues to award contracts that are unfavorable to the agency. Berrios documents the practices of private sector contracting, how they compete for USAID contracts, how they fit into the stated aims and needs of the agency, and what their performance evaluations say upon completion of contracts. Berrios also provides a sweeping review of U.S. development assistance policies, the trend toward privatization, the rhetoric about reinventing government, and the issue of past performance. A controversial assessment, this will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and policy makers involved with U.S. developmental strategies.

This book examines how some growing countries are experiencing economic development, while others are falling behind. It addresses the fundamental issues of development strategies by examining country-specific policies that have resulted in success or failure. The author focuses on Peru and makes comparisons with Chile and South Korea, exploring the question of why the latter two countries have been more successful, while Peru has lagged behind, despite bountiful natural resources and the potential to develop into a robust economy. The central question is to understand why some countries achieve economic development, while others face enormous challenges, and fail to do so.

This comprehensive text analyzes the foreign policies of eighteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. First assessing the state of the discipline, the introduction develops a common framework that compares the relevant explanatory weight of foreign policy determinants at the individual, state, and international level for each country. Case studies include the major regional powers such as Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, as well as less-studied players such as the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Uruguay. With its focused analytical questions and rich empirical description, this book allows readers to develop sustained comparisons across the full spectrum of Latin American foreign policy. Visit our website for sample chapters