Security by other means : foreign assistance, global poverty, and American leadership /

This policy-oriented collection makes a timely contribution to congressional debates over the future role of US foreign economic assistance programs. In addition to presenting the case for reorganizing both the administrative and congressional approaches to foreign aid to improve coherence and effectiveness, this volume covers specific topics including HIV/AIDS programs, American humanitarian (disaster) assistance, postconflict aid, and the history of aid reform initiatives; it also provides an overview of the successful restructuring of British foreign assistance. Contributors, many from Washington-based policy think tanks and branches of the US government, provide a wealth of institution-specific knowledge with particularly interesting accounts of the congressional authorization and allocation process and of humanitarian assistance programs. Chapters vary widely in the range of material covered and the level of detail presented, so different chapters are likely to appeal to different readers. While many chapter topics are new, there is considerable overlap with other recent assessments of US aid, such as Carol Lancaster and Ann Van Dusen's Organizing U.S. Foreign Aid: Confronting the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century (2005), though Brainard's collection is more wide-ranging and focuses more on processes outside of USAID. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduate students through professionals. C. Kilby Vassar College