During the Reagan administration, American policymakers devoted billions of dollars to humanitarian relief in an attempt to create a commercial empire by exploiting natural disasters. My project will serve as an investigation of American international disaster relief– an audit of who mattered most, who lived, and who died.
My project will discuss several major themes, each a topic of debate within the field of American history. On the surface, my research will probe a previously unexamined element of Cold War state-to-state relations – American disaster relief policy. I will examine and uncover the motives behind the idiosyncrasies of American foreign disaster relief, illustrating that policymakers viewed humanitarian, economic, and security concerns as mutually reinforcing when administering disaster relief.
Looking more deeply, however, my project will uncover a second story that ran parallel to American Cold War interests. The implementation of disaster relief provided space for policymakers and private businessmen to negotiate the boundaries of an emerging neoliberal empire that was both justified by and concealed under traditional Cold War discourses. Nations that provided disaster aid thus dictated terms of development in catastrophe-stricken countries. A study of international disaster relief will consequently reveal the ideology of American policymakers, the limits to American power, and emerging global trends obscured by the waning Cold War.