The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence - Softcover

Gripping and perspective-altering book. (David Brooks, The New York Times)

Throughout my life I've seen firsthand that while talent, ambition, and hard work are distributed equally among all people around the world, many face challenges each day simply surviving. The Locust Effect is a compelling reminder that if we are to create a 21st century of shared prosperity, we cannot turn a blind eye to the violence that threatens our common humanity. (President Bill Clinton)

The Locust Effect provides a much-needed argument for reducing violence against the poor and a demonstration (through first hand stories that are both shocking and true)

This extraordinary book offers surprising and valuable insights about the nature and the drivers of the plague of violence that haunts the global poor as well as smart ideas about how to tackle it. A must-read. (Moisés Naím, Scholar, Carnegie Endowment, author of The End of Power, and former editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy)

You may 'know' that the world's poor suffer common everyday violence - robbery, extortion, rape, murder, torture - a stream of humiliating assaults on their dignity. You may 'know' that this implies lost productivity and ultimately lost growth for low-income economies. Haugen asks why, if we know all that, we do so little? ...Read this book and you will be convinced the issue deserves more of your attention. (Nancy Birdsall, Founding President, Center for Global Development)

Some of the biggest ideas are right in front of us but still invisible. The Locust Effect brings home, in convincing and powerful detail, the simple but oh-so-important point that poverty results from violence as much as violence results from poverty. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in development, security, and the failure of billions of people to achieve their potential. (Anne-Marie Slaughter, President, New America Foundation, and Professor Emeritus of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University)

The Locust Effect presents a compelling and shocking portrayal of the relationship between violence and poverty. The book convincingly argues that violence is the missing link in our understanding of global poverty and of our development interventions. Haugen has spent decades in extraordinary work to address violence, to free those subjected to it, and to apply the rule of law. His firsthand account brings needed moral and developmental urgency to the relentless and pervasive violence poor people experience, especially women and girls. This is a must-read book that will fundamentally expand our analysis of the nature of global poverty and our efforts to overcome it. (Maria Otero, Former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, and Former President and CEO of ACCION International)

In a world of simplistic and knee-jerk responses to the world's problems, Gary Haugen arrives with insight, wisdom, and realism. The Locust Effect is a game-changer. He shows us how violence slices through all our good intentions, negating development, rights, and freedom. This is a book that is as smart as it is heartfelt, as grounded as it is creative. These are ideas of real power and grace. (Kevin Bales, Professor of Contemporary Slavery, University of Hull, and Co-Founder, Free the Slaves)

This crucial study carefully documents the fundamental truth that the end of poverty demands the end of violence. Both fascinating and important, Gary Haugen's book is a moving demonstration that is at once fact-filled and highly readable (a truly unusual combination.)

The Locust Effect is a wake-up call to everyone who cares about global poverty. As International Justice Mission's Gary Haugen and co-author Victor Boutros report, with painstaking data and breathtaking cases from the field, unchecked violent crime against the poorest, especially girls and women, isn't just a human rights problem. It is a drag on development that no amount of foreign aid can fix if functioning public justice systems aren't part of the solution. (Jacquelline Fuller, Director, Google Giving)

A Washington Post bestseller

While the world has made encouraging strides in the fight against global poverty, there is a hidden crisis silently undermining our best efforts to help the poor.

It is a plague of everyday violence.

Beneath the surface of the world's poorest communities, common violence ― like rape, forced labor, illegal detention, land theft, police abuse and other brutality ― has become routine and relentless. And like a horde of locusts devouring everything in their path, the unchecked plague of violence ruins lives, blocks the road out of poverty, and undercuts development.

How has this plague of violence grown so ferocious? The answer is terrifying, and startlingly simple: There's nothing shielding the poor from violent people. In one of the most remarkable ― and unremarked upon ― social disasters of the last half century, basic public justice systems in the developing world have descended into a state of utter collapse.

Gary A. Haugen and Victor Boutros offer a searing account of how we got here ― and what it will take to end the plague. Filled with vivid real-life stories and startling new data, The Locust Effect is a gripping journey into the streets and slums where fear is a daily reality for billions of the world's poorest ,where safety is secured only for those with money, and where much of our well-intended aid is lost in the daily chaos of violence.

While their call to action is urgent, Haugen and Boutros provide hope, a real solution and an ambitious way forward. The Locust Effect is a wake-up call: Its massive implications will forever change the way we understand global poverty - and will help secure a safe path to prosperity for the global poor in the 21st century.