Confronting Poverty Weak States and U.S. National Security

Former Brookings Senior Fellow Susan E. Rice spearheads an investigationof the connections between poverty and fragile states and the implicationsfor American security. Coedited by Rice and former Brookings colleaguesCorinne Graff and Carlos Pascual, Confronting Povertyis a timely reminderthat alleviating global poverty and shoring up weak states are not only humanitarianand economic imperatives, but key components of a more balanced and sustainableU.S. national security strategy. Rice elucidates the relationship between poverty, state weakness, and transnationalsecurity threats, and Graff and Pascual offer policy recommendations. The book'soverarching conclusions highlight the need to invest in poverty alleviation and capacitybuilding in weak states in order to break the vicious cycle of poverty, fragility, andtransnational threats. Confronting Povertygrows out of a project on global poverty and U.S. national securitythat Rice directed at Brookings from 2002 through January 2009, before she becameU.S. permanent representative to the United Nations.

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 Brooking 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 Brooking 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. Sine August 2009, he has been serving as U.S. ambassador to Mexico.