U.S. Training of African Forces and Military Assistance, 1997–2017
Security versus Human Rights in Principal–Agent Relations
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12976452 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephanie M Burchard (0000-0002-0190-0882), Stephen F Burgess (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 339-369 |
| Publication date | 2018-10-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African Security (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1939-2206 • E-ISSN: 1939-2214 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/19392206.2018.1560969 |
| OpenAlex | W2909940201 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
Despite its reputation for global democracy promotion, the United States has developed substantial long-term military partnerships with several African countries that have less than stellar human rights records. While in some instances the United States has chosen to rebuke countries for human rights abuses, it has also elected to continue security partnerships with others in the face of similarly credible accusations. To explain this seeming inconsistency, this article analyzes U.S. security partnerships with six African countries: Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Kenya, finding that a combination of intensity of interest and magnitude of the violation explains when the United States chooses to censure those countries, when it does not, and the intensity of the rebuke. Countries where the United States has significant interest are most often exempted from censure. The comparative weight of interests to values determines the U.S. response to norm violations. Constructivist principal–agent theory explains this finding in terms of a struggle within the U.S. security establishment in which those who believe offending African militaries can be improved through continuous engagement and training wield more influence in security assistance policy than those who assert that the United States should disengage from those militaries and sanction them
Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Human rights · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Principal (computer security · Promotion (chess · Reputation · Sociology · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance
Security Assistance and the Crisis of the Liberal International Order
Practices of Intervention
Security Force Assistance to Fragile States
Analysing (In)formal Relations and Networks in Security Force Assistance
Military advising and assistance in Somalia
Revisiting the Civil-Military Conundrum in Africa
(Re)ordering the Mediterranean
US aid and substitution of human rights violations
School of influence
Lethal aid and human security
The role of tri-liminality in the UK’s security force assistance to Nigerian counterinsurgency
Understanding the Mechanisms of International Influence in an Era of Great Power Competition
| Unique citing works | 12 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 12 |