ABSTRACT
The international approach to explaining foreign aid decisions perceives the donor state as a unitary decision maker providing assistance either in pursuit in its own self interest, or for altruistic purposes. In contrast, the domestic approach conceptualizes United States bilateral foreign aid decisions as being the result of compromises between competing interests, and policy objectives. The theoretical parameters of the rational choice paradigm require the clear identification and specification of the decision making phenomenon of interest. In the development of United States international policy, or foreign affairs, the President is usually considered the dominant actor. The dominant role of the President in foreign relations is partly the result of constitutional prerogative, but is also the result of historic development. Economic foreign aid, in the form of development loans, technical assistance, and the contingency fund, are project oriented in that the monies appropriated are limited to the financing of specific developmental projects.
