The Price of Peace: Emergency Economic Intervention and U.S. Foreign Policy

by David Rothkopf

In Bosnia, the Middle East, Haiti, and other situations central to the U.S. post-Cold War foreign policy, success or failure has turned on America's ability to promote hope and opportunity as the by-products of intervention. In the wake of war, violence, and civil unrest, providing jobs, homes, basic services, and capital has been the strategy for subduing opposition and building political will as U.S. and allied troops wind down their limited missions. At the same time, dwindling aid budgets, differences with other donors, institutional gaps, congressional opposition, and conflicting objectives have compromised the effectiveness of economic recovery programs worldwide. This book is built around a detailed analysis of U.S. efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the Palestinian Territories, and in the Republic of Haiti. It assesses the effectiveness of U.S. strategic planning and the implementation of American economic plans in each of these situations, identifying areas where new approaches and programs may be needed to enhance the likelihood of success in the future. With the resolution of regional conflicts looming as an increasingly important component of U.S. foreign policy and the concurrent unwillingness to expose U.S. forces to prolonged risk in these situations, post-conflict initiatives will prove to be more important than ever before. This book offers crucial insights into the challenges of promoting stability through the restoration of hope and opportunity to the victims of crises and provides a forward-looking assessment of the future demands and opportunities created in conjunction with the economic dimensions of peacekeeping.

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

David Rothkopf is the internationally acclaimed author of Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, March 2008), now available in over two dozen editions worldwide, and Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power (PublicAffairs, 2005), hailed by The New York Times as "the definitive history of the National Security Council." His next book, on the tug of war between public and private power worldwide and its consequences, is due out from Farrar Straus & Giroux late this year.

Rothkopf is President and CEO of Garten Rothkopf, an international advisory firm specializing in transformational trends especially those associated with energy choice and climate change, emerging markets and global risk. He is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where he chairs the Carnegie Economic Strategy Roundtable. He was formerly chief executive of Intellibridge Corporation, managing director of Kissinger Associates and U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Policy.

Rothkopf has also taught international affairs and national security studies at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, has lectured widely and is the author of over 150 articles for leading publications worldwide.