THE BUSINESS ELITE AND FOREIGN POLICY

In: The Western political quarterly: official journal of Western Political Science Association, Band 13, Heft 1, S. 172-190

Abstract

The influence of US business leaders on US post-war foreign econ policy is related to the perspectives which condition their perception of policy alternatives. In Congressional hearings & in the recommendations of study groups, deliberations over foreign econ policy have been confined to issues which reflect an ideological split within the business elite. One segment of this elite (the `fundamentalists') adheres rigorously to traditional precepts of laissez-faire capitalism & limited US involvement in the domestic affairs of other countries; another segment of this elite (the `progressives') exhibits a willingness to reconcile these traditional precepts with policy innovations designed to make econ aid pol'ally effective. The split between groups holding these 2 perspectives has been evident throughout the post-WWII period in deliberations over the major programs of foreign econ aid-from Bretton Woods (1943) to the Development Loan Fund (1957). IPSA.