The Russian Transformation and the Role of American Support
Introduction and Statement of Purpose
American foreign policy in general, and America's use of foreign aid or assistance in particular, has always been understood as reflective of both domestic and international political, security, economic and military concerns (Clad & Stone, 1993). Periodic electoral shifts in the period since the end of World War II have resulted in ideologically inspired shifts in aid policy, as in the abrupt tilt toward free-market development after 1981 and the beginning of the Reagan years; the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1989, perhaps the major event shaping American foreign policy and aid decisions in the latter half of the century, also resulted in dramatic changes in America's bilateral and multilateral assistance programs (Clad & Stone, 1993). Regardless, however, how American foreign aid and assistance programs have been oriented, they have served as ideological and political vehicles destined to reinforce American principles and to acquire "friends" for the United States, leading to reduction of risks to domestic security. This was the case under the Marshall Plan, and remains the case today (Nincic, 1988).
Scholars have argued that the United States and most other nations employ foreign policy and assistance as strategic elements designed to achieve national security goals (Nincic, 1988). It is the purpose of the present study to examine the use of and shifts in American foreign assistance policy and programs as those shifts and uses have impacted upon the former Soviet Union, or Russia herself. Russia has undergone not merely "a" transformation since 1989; the country has experienced several conflicting transformations as it has attempted to restructure its political, economic and social institutions (Pomper, 1999). Russia's democracy appears to be reasonably well-established, and few Russians seem interested in re...