Winning The Peace―An American Strategy For Post-conflict Reconstruction

Many commentators have traced the origins of the 9-11 attacks to the neglect shown by the United States toward Afghanistan in the aftermath of the proxy war against the Soviet Union during the 1980s. Stressing the need to avoid such "failed states" in the future, Atwood (dean, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Policy) and Orr (director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard U.) present peer-reviewed white papers from a conference jointly organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Association of the United States Army. The 17 papers first explore different aspects of reconstruction capabilities including security operations, governance structures, providing social and economic well-being, and dealing with justice and reconciliation. They then turn to the enhancement of "capacity enablers" such as interagency planning, civilian rapid response capability, training and education for personnel, and funding. Finally five case studies, from Japan to Iraq, are presented. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Robert C. Orr is executive director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.