The Role of Foreign Assistance
in Conflict Prevention

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Download the paper from this session: - Word - PDF - HTML Listen to audio clips from this session  January 2001 Conference Report TOC     Session II: The New Paradigm on the Role of Foreign Assistance and U.S. Priorities in the Post-Cold War Millennium: Re-defining U.S. Needs and Understanding the Role of Development Assistance in Conflict Prevention A vision with no plan is an aspiration with no reality. The United States lacks an early warning alert system of potential conflict. The current system focuses on traditional threats that can be addressed through military means. A different approach is needed to redefine threats in terms of the core needs of the American public. This allows one to better anticipate and respond to emerging threats. The interests-based approach is only concerned with the present; it reflects, not drives, strategies. A need-based approach, on the other hand, endures. Core U.S. needs rather than national interests should ground foreign policy. They are: A safe and secure home land. A dynamic economic engine capable of generating new wealth. Strong friends and allies. Predictable relations with others. Conflict poses a danger to our core needs because we do not have a national plan of where the United States would like to be in 2020. Most analysts would agree that the United States would like to find that it continues to enjoy a position of global pre-eminence within such spheres as economics, politics, and the military. Most would also agree that it is desirable to see a greater number of democracies and market economies in the world. Such a world would have an inclusive and functional interlocking network of legal regimes, an improved global capacity to handle the world's problems, and be in the position that nuclear war was unthinkable. A plan needs to be created and strategies determined on how to achieve these aims. The United States cannot have an isolationist policy; it needs to reach out to friends and allies. Friends and allies can help the United States diffuse the situations, share information, and be partially or fully engaged in implementing solutions. The United States cannot be mired in uncertainties. It is a choice the United States makes whether 80,000 people being massacred requires the United States to act or not. The potential for violent conflict is omnipresent, but no conflict explodes without warning signs. "Threat" is a term of art and not a good mechanism to alert the United States to the dangers future conflict may cause. Strategies to prevent deadly conflict need to be developed with the understanding that that violence is preventable and internal warfare is a problem of governance because people choose war. Solving the practical problems of the role of development assistance in conflict prevention is not as important, at this stage, as creating a new vision of how USAID can be a key player in creating capable states and, in turn, preventing conflict. Capable states are characterized by: Representative governance based on rule of law. Market economic activity. Thriving civil society. Security, well being and justice available to all citizens. The ability to manage internal and external affairs peacefully. Assistance in the creation of 'capable' states, such as was given to Europe following World War II under the terms of the Marshall Plan, is essential. The outside help provided by the Marshall Plan was indispensable to the successful reemergence of Europe from shattering warfare. Today, such assistance is equally essential for countries struggling to break free of the chronic conditions that inhibit growth. The intersection of these characteristics of "capable states" holds the key to prevention. Security without well being or justice is repression; well being without security or justice is precarious. Justice without security or well being is not possible. The characteristics' interrelatedness will not only make people better off, but also inhibit the tendency to resort to violence to manage differences and cope with change. USAID's responsibility is structural engagement: creating an environment of lawfulness through democratic practices and market economies, which in turn create stable countries. Through strategies of structural engagement, development assistance can encourage states to adopt pluralism and find non-aggressive ways of accommodating differences. Prevention is a "push-package" wherein democratic institutions and ideals are planted in a nation state. Countries, however, often do not know how to "pull" or respond to democratization. It is important to mentor newly democratizing states and remain with them over an extended period of time, in order to ensure the successful implementation of a healthy democracy. A vital component of the "pull" package is instilling the belief that formal institutions cannot be created without developing a corresponding set of values. Structural prevention efforts should be addressed using two guiding principles: Ending freedom from fear and want is best achieved via democratic self-governance. Outside help such as development assistance can only provide the margin of victory. Good leadership is essential to the successful implementation of democracy because of the second principle. The United States can only assist marginally; the actual implementation largely depends on the people themselves. It is vital for citizens to be a part of the democracy building process so that they can "own" the resulting institutions and have a stake in the ultimate outcome. Development assistance is an essential, distinctive component of U.S. foreign policy, one that serves core U.S. needs. It does so in ways that reconcile the twin goals of strengthening the position of the United States in the world and improving the situation of all states in the international system. By pursuing strategies that help create capable states, development aid will more constructively work toward strengthening emerging nations and, in the process, help create markets, reduce threats, promote self-reliance and adherence to rule-based regimes, and prevent the emergence of mass violence. USAID can not only assist in meeting the core needs of the United States but can help secure its own future by assuming the interagency lead in structural prevention. The agency's competence is attested to by its field knowledge as well as its technical and operational expertise. Indeed, USAID stands alone among all U.S. foreign policy agencies because of its long-term focus on global problems, and its capacity to join forces with other agencies in order to better address these problems. AUDIO CLIPS FROM THIS SPEECH Click here for audio clip#1 of Dr. Jane Holl Lute. [RealAudio non-streaming file, 178k] Transcription of audio clip: "It's impossible to go to an office in the UN and not hear about prevention. It's impossible to talk today about violent conflict and not talk about how such conflict might be prevented. And so we can take some satisfaction in that. And so my remarks today are going to not focus on the broad international setting of prevention but really the challenge for the United States and the U.S. government particularly at this moment of transition, with an even more special emphasis on the role of foreign aid, the role of USAID." Click here for audio clip#2 of Dr. Jane Holl Lute. [RealAudio non-streaming file, 166k] Transcription of audio clip: "I think the United States has four fundamental needs at this moment in its history. We have a need for a safe and secure environment. We have a need for a dynamic economic engine capable of generating new wealth. That's a high bar, by the way. We have a need for strong friends and allies. And we have a need for predictable relations with others. That's a low bar. Just predictable relations, not good relations. Just predictable relations. That implies the rule of law." Click here for audio clip#3 of Dr. Jane Holl Lute. [RealAudio non-streaming file, 155k] Transcription of audio clip: "Well, how does deadly conflict pose dangers to these needs? In other words, why are these needs important to us? Well, they tell us the kinds of strategies we need to develop in order to achieve the future we seek. Andy Goodpastor said to me earlier on in the Commission, 'you know, Jane, look: if you don't know where you're going, you're not likely to get there.' So what kind of future do we see? Why kind of future is this administration aspiring for on our behalf?" Click here for audio clip#4 of Dr. Jane Holl Lute. [RealAudio non-streaming file, 152k] Transcription of audio clip: "We need strategies to get to this future. We need strategies to manage growth, promote prosperity, protect ourselves from danger, and help strengthen others. In other words, we need strategies for structural prevention, best thought of not simply as avoiding bad circumstances but as creating the kind of future and the kind of United States we seek. Affirmative strategies to get where we want to go, not just avoid problems." Click here for audio clip#5 of Dr. Jane Holl Lute. [RealAudio non-streaming file, 118k] Transcription of audio clip: "For those of us who are engaged in prevention and for USAID specifically, together with other like-minded countries around the world, we know enough about the circumstances that require preventive engagement and the kinds of strategies to begin to try out. There is no 'one-size-fits-all.' But we do know that prevention is a 'push' package that has to be brought to bear." Click here for audio clip#6 of Dr. Jane Holl Lute. [RealAudio non-streaming file, 126k] Transcription of audio clip: "With the focus on structural prevention, long-term engagement to help create capable societies marked, as David [Hamburg] said, by democratic governance, rule of law, market-economic activity, robust civil society, USAID can find its niche that is served by no other agency in this government." [This audio clip requires RealPlayerTM.  The RealPlayer software is available for free download from RealNetwork at http://www.real.com/player/index.html.]

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