For most supporters of development, the end of the Clinton administration and beginning of the George W. Bush term felt like a decided nadir. The nation’s primary development agency,USAID, had been battered during protracted turf and budget battles during the mid- and late-1990s, forcing the agency to make deep staff cuts and leaving it a hollowed out shell of its former self.
While Bush had campaigned on a platform of “compassionate conservatism,” few expected global development to be a high priority for the incoming administration — although the internationalist bent of his father’s presidency was encouraging to many in the development community.
The above excerpt was originally published in Devex.
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