Strategic Foreign Assistance: Civil Society in International Security: 544 (Hoover Institution Press Publication) - Softcover

"This thoughtful book suggests a strategy for success in helping civil society organizations address critical problems in regions where the American government is mistrusted." Joseph S. Nye Jr. is distinguished service professor at Harvard and author of "Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics."" ""Strategic Foreign Assistance" is the most encouraging integration of development strategy and civil society building within a track two diplomacy framework that I have ever seen." Joseph V. Montville, diplomat in residence, Center for Global Peace, American University" "This excellent book offers innovative ideas for engaging and supporting civil society, and enabling it to play a leading role in promoting social and political reform and economic development in the future." Radwan A. Masmoudi, president, Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy, Washington D.C." "This book will appeal to all people who are concerned with foreign policy and foreign aid strategies regardless of party. Seeking to strengthen the role of civil society organizations is not a left or right proposition but a thoughtful and practical approach to development and security." William P. Fuller, former president of the Asia Foundation" ""Strategic Foreign Assistance" deftly highlights the ways in which individuals and civil society can and must be empowered when governments are paralyzed and unable to act and the stakes are too high for inaction. It should be welcomed and studied by all who seek to understand how nongovernmental forces can serve as a leading force for peace, prosperity, and progress in the twenty-first century." Lee H. Hamilton, director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and former vice-chair, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission)" "This is a profound and greatly useful exposition on a critical question yet strangely unexamined: how to use civil society to advance strategic objectives abroad, especially when government-to-government relations are incapable of moving adversaries away from conflict. The approach is useful and challenging and original, at once profoundly conservative and yet bound to be deeply appealing without regard to party to the most perceptive of those responsible for American foreign policy." William F. Buckley Jr."

After the devastating effects of September 11, the authors show that, to bring governments and peoples together, the US must develop a strategic foreign cooperation and assistance policy that fosters strong civil societies, emphasizing the key role civil society organizations (CSOs) could play in mitigating the conditions that promote terrorists and terrorism.