Idea of the Day: Codify the Prevention Mandate

November 14, 2008

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Unless prevention is integrated into the national strategies that guide foreign policy formulation and implementation, it will remain an afterthought—the press of time and range of immediate demands will preclude its inclusion. The next president should take steps to lay the ground for a more deliberate focus on prevention. He should require that crisis prevention be included in the National Security Strategy that the administration is required to produce on an annual basis.

The president should also initiate the production and public release of a National Development Strategy. There currently exists no overarching policy framework or guidance for the multiple foreign assistance funds, accounts, and programs that are distributed across the executive branch. A National Development Strategy would bring greater policy coherence to these and would help to prevent duplication of effort and inefficiencies. A National Development Strategy could also drive an enhanced focus on prevention because development assistance is the most effective tool available for promoting structural prevention.

For more on this topic, please see:

• The Price of Prevention: Getting Ahead of Global Crises by Gayle Smith, David Sullivan, and Andrew Sweet