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Jump to Overview Sections:
>> 50 years of development gains >> Promoting democratic governance >> Driving economic growth >> Improving people's health >> Mitigating and managing conflict >> Providing humanitarian assistance >> The full measure of U.S. development assistance-official and private >> Notes >> Background papers >> References
The new cenury has brought new threats to U.S. security and new challenges
and opportunities for the national interest. The terrorist attacks of September
11 tragically demonstrated the character of today’s world. Globalization
has sent unprecedented flows of people, ideas, goods, and services across
borders, fostering growth and expanding democracy. More than ever, U.S.
security is bound up with the outside world. And as the world has become
more connected, it has become more hazardous. Weapons, germs, drugs,
envy, and hate cross borders at accelerating rates. Just as the tools,
ideas, and resources for progress can quickly move from industrial to
developing countries, many forms of risk and instability can travel
in the opposite direction.
When development and governance fail in a country, the consequences
engulf entire regions and leap around the world. Terrorism, political
violence, civil wars, organized crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking,
infectious diseases, environmental crises, refugee flows, and mass migration
cascade across the borders of weak states more destructively than ever
before. They endanger the security and well-being of all Americans,
not just those traveling abroad. Indeed, these unconventional threats
may pose the greatest challenge to the national interest in cominog
decades.
Conventional military force, intelligence gathering and operations,
law enforcement, and diplomacy play important roles in containing threats
to U.S. security. But these mainly deal with the manifestations of trouble,
not the root causes. In countries where government does not advance
the common good, ordinary people do not realize the promise of development.
Corruption is rampant. The state’s capacity is weak. Social services
are inadequate. And economic growth is stunted. Economic policies hinder
growth while benefiting privileged groups. Investment is scant because
property rights are insecure, government is predatory, infrastructure
is poor, freedom is compromised, human capital is underdeveloped, and
there is little confidence in the future. So, economic development is
hard to get going—and impossible to sustain.
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