A Unique Aid?: Towards a Placement Logic of Peace Corps Volunteers in Africa

Despite having been born in the Cold War context of the 1960s, Peace Corps has always tried to distance itself from strategic foreign policy in agency rhetoric. Volunteers only go where they are invited and where the... [ view full abstract ]

Despite having been born in the Cold War context of the 1960s, Peace Corps has always tried to distance itself from strategic foreign policy in agency rhetoric. Volunteers only go where they are invited and where the agency perceives they will be effective. However, there has been no critical examination that asks what political and need-based factors affect where Peace Corps has gone over time and in what numbers. Serious critiques of the motives and implementation of American aid in recent decades have had a blind spot when it comes to Peace Corps. Since nearly 45% of the 220,000 volunteers have gone to the African continent--a percentage that will continue to climb--a better understanding of historical and modern agency practice in the region is key. In this paper I exploit data on bilateral military, economic, and cultural relations between the U.S. and host countries, as well as host health, economic, and governance indicators, and American domestic political considerations in understanding Peace Corps placements in 33 African states.