"No [wo]man is an island, entire of itself; every [wo]man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."— John Donne
While the white house begins to move towards an isolationist policy with the new trump administration, this quote reminds us of how the world functions in collaboration. As Donald J. Trump has developed the “America First” policy, the global development sector has gone through a wreck. This means that the US is pivoting away from multilateralism and foreign aid to a world leader that blocks any philanthropic acts from their side in the need to materialise their wants.
Historically, the US has been a leader that has manoeuvred the development sector. They had supporting programs in health, education, infrastructure, etc. Its role was not for mere philanthropy but to use development as a tool for fostering stability as well as securing alliances. Moreover, Trump’s presidency has marked a decline in the US engagement in the development sector, which takes away a key payer from the development sector agency for International Development (USAID) has experienced budget cuts, while there has been a blatant withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. The current Trump administration focuses on retaining finances and reducing wasteful spending, thus, favouring instead a transactional approach to international relations. While the US Treasury would benefit from more resources, the politics would suffer. The U.S. influence in Africa and Southeast Asia would decline not only by neglecting the development sector but also by focusing solely on counterbalancing the growing influence of authoritarian regimes through soft power.
Moreover, Trump 2.0 bid farewell to multilateralism as well as they opposed the notion of a “free lunch”. One of the hallmarks of Trump’s presidency is the disdain for multilateral institutions. This approach mainly undermines the critical global partnerships at a time when collective action is most needed. This means that international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) would bear the brunt due to its dependence upon the funds allocated by the US. The defunding policy exercises the inequality prevalent in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the health vacuum that persisted throughout the globe, and the recent actions would put fire on the forest in terms of ending multilateralism.
The imbalance of resources as well as its concentration in few hands would make the world more polarised and the progress made in the fields of maternal health and disease prevention would falter significantly with a reduction in aid, which though always came with strings attached
For the US a surge in funds would be visible, but countries that heavily depend upon funding from the developed nations would feel crippling pressures, not only in terms of the funding but also in terms of the declining welfare sectors. Trump’s policies have disrupted the three main pillars of the development sector: stability, long-term funding, and international cooperation. However, with the shortfall of funds, people from developing countries would suffer the most. The imbalance of resources as well as its concentration in few hands would make the world more polarised and the progress made in the fields of maternal health and disease prevention would falter significantly with a reduction in aid, which though always came with strings attached.
The economic factors and the transactional foreign aid would politicise the development sector a lot more, thus, harming the ethical considerations within the fields of education, health, and infrastructure. The future development programs, if any, would become less about building capacity and more about serving the US interests while undermining the fundamental principles of composite development.
Reiterating John Donne’s view of a [wo]man and island, where one should become a continent that is connected to the world. While the world grows smaller with every passing day, even after excessive globalisation manifests the duality of world politics. This duality limits prosperity and rather than budging the countries create walls that separate the developed from the developing.