| Abstract [eng] |
The United States (US) has long been the world's leading provider of humanitarian aid, disbursing approximately $72 billion in assistance in 2023. More than half of this amount consisted of the budget of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). However, in January 2025, the administration of US President Donald Trump, who was elected for a second term, announced a restructuring of USAID, and the agency was eventually closed. The USAID dismantling shows that the Democratic and Republican parties and their supporters interpret the role of power in US foreign policy differently and associate it with opposing political goals. The objective of this study “Competing Discourses of Power: An Analysis of USAID's Dismantling” is to analyze the competing discourses shaping USAID dismantling and to identify the concepts of power in US foreign policy that they articulate. This work examines the processes of the USAID dismantling that took place between January and September 2025, applying Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's discourse theory and approaches to neorealism, neoliberalism, and soft power. The study examines statements made on six US news websites by politicians and institutions, experts, non-governmental organizations, and citizens. The research allows to conclude that the conflict is fuelled by different concepts of US security and power in foreign policy, and to explain the differences between them. Using two main theoretical perspectives on international relations, it was found that elements of both theories circulate in competing discourses, but are hierarchized differently. The Republican discourse reflects a concept close to neorealist logic and the concept of hard power, but it also recognises the existence of elements of soft power, only giving them significantly less importance. Democratic discourse constructs a concept close to the neoliberal tradition, but although it places greater emphasis on soft power, it recognises that it should be based on elements of hard power, thus establishing the concept of smart power. |
