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Confronting Poverty

Weak States and U.S. National Security

Susan E. Rice, Corinne Graff, Carlos Pascual
Release Date: January 15, 2010

Former Brookings Senior Fellow Susan E. Rice spearheads an investigation of the connections between poverty and fragile states and the implications for American security. Coedited by Rice and former Brookings...

Former Brookings Senior Fellow Susan E. Rice spearheads an investigation of the connections between poverty and fragile states and the implications for American security. Coedited by Rice and former Brookings colleagues Corinne Graff and Carlos Pascual, Confronting Poverty is a timely reminder that alleviating global poverty and shoring up weak states are not only humanitarian and economic imperatives, but key components of a more balanced and sustainable U.S. national security strategy.

Rice elucidates the relationship between poverty, state weakness, and transnational security threats, and Graff and Pascual offer policy recommendations. The book’s overarching conclusions highlight the need to invest in poverty alleviation and capacity building in weak states in order to break the vicious cycle of poverty, fragility, and transnational threats.

Confronting Poverty grows out of a project on global poverty and U.S. national security that Rice directed at Brookings from 2002 through January 2009, before she became U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations.

Authors

Susan E. Rice was a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution from 2002 to 2009. From 1997 to 2001, she was the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs. In 2009, she left Brookings to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Corinne Graff was a fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution. She holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

Carlos Pascual was vice president and director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. Before joining Brookings he served on the National Security Council, as coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization at the State Department, and as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Since August 2009, he has been serving as U.S. ambassador to Mexico.