International Support For U.S. Foreign Policy: The Role Of Foreign Aid, Trade Integration And Social Development

Abstract

We examine the factors that determine how often other countries vote with the U.S. in the U.N. General Assembly as a measure of their support for U.S. interests.   We find that U.S. aid does not particularly induce other countries to vote with it on issues that are important to the U.S.  However, countries with a higher level of social development, as measured by the HDI, seem to vote more often with the U.S. in the U.N.  Moreover, it also seems that trading with the U.S. aligns other countries with the U.S to some degree.