Novik Nikolay Nikolaevich – Ph.D. in Economics, Associate Professor, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, HSE University; Associate Professor, International Business Department, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Royce Dylan Payne – Ph.D., Researcher, School of International Affairs, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, HSE University; George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA Amurskaya Marina Alexandrovna – Ph.D. in Economics, Head of International Business Department, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation
From the perspective of international relations theory, foreign aid policy is not only a tool for ensuring interstate relations, but also an important factor in shaping a country’s image in the international arena and an instrument of «soft» power. With the return of D. Trump to the White House, there have been noticeable shifts in the US political strategy, which can be characterized as a change in the foreign policy paradigm from the traditional one, oriented towards liberal democratic ideology and values, to a pragmatic neorealistic approach. These shifts were accompanied by a general rise of populist and isolationist tendencies, the inclusion of an «aggressive optimisation» mode vis-à-vis the domestic bureaucracy and external actors, such as supranational institutional organisations, partner and competitor countries. The study provides an overview of US aid policy in Europe from 2016 to early 2025, analyzes its potentially disruptive orientation, and provides various classifications of aid policy by the nature of funding: invasive, educational, non-invasive, censored. The article focuses on China’s role in promoting global aid policy, which is of particular importance to the US in the context of global trade and economic competition and new challenges to international security. The study is based on J. Nye’s theory of «soft» power, which is the most complete and comprehensive description of the instruments, processes and consequences of aid policy implementation by international actors. The article uses comparative-historical and statistical-descriptive methods.
D. Trump, USAID, Europe, aid policy, USA.
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