Leading Through Civilian Power

Irreversible climate change, the spread of pandemic disease, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and violent conflict spurred by the failure of weak states-these are collective challenges facing the entire international community. Their solution requires broad partnerships and wide ranging expertise. Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a blueprint for building those partnerships and deploying the civilian power necessary in the 21st century. The first-ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review offers a sweeping set of reforms designed to allow the United States to bring to bear the expertise necessary to address the threats and seize the opportunities that lie ahead in partnership with other governments, non-governmental organizations, and civil society.

As Secretary Clinton has said, "To lead in this new century, we must often lead in new ways." Secretary Clinton's vision for the United States' role in the world, laid out in this first-ever Review, is for America to embrace and elevate civilian power to advance our interests-and the interests we share with other peoples and governments. She recognizes even the world's finest military cannot defeat a virus, stop climate change, prevent the spread of violent extremism, or make peace in the Middle East.  Addressing the challenges that lie ahead requires, in her words, "the combined force of civilians working together across the U.S. government to practice diplomacy, carry out development projects, and prevent and respond to crises." Many different civilian agencies of the U.S. Government-beyond just the Department of State-contribute to these efforts and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review offers a blueprint for uniting their efforts and harnessing their expertise to address the collective challenges we face in the years ahead.

At the heart of the Review is the recognition that development is as essential to America's security as diplomacy and defense. Through the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, Secretary Clinton has charted a course to fulfill President Obama's commitment to development. Even in a time of fiscal constraint, the United States will remain committed to development, rebuilding the United States Agency for International Development into the world's premier development organization. The United States will focus our development efforts in six areas in which we have comparative advantage to deliver results: food security; global health; climate change; economic growth; democracy, human rights and governance, and humanitarian assistance. Across each of these six areas we will emphasize the role of women and girls, who can be agents of extraordinary change. We will commit to greater transparency and accountability in our efforts. And we will build partnerships that amplify our impact with other donors, multilateral organizations, and, most importantly, with the governments and peoples whom we seek to assist.  Our development goal must be to put ourselves out of business by helping host governments build the sustainable systems that allow them to deliver for their own people.

In the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, Secretary Clinton also recognizes that weak and failing states anywhere are a threat to people everywhere; that human security is essential to international security. So she has committed to building the United States' human security capabilities and strengthening our civilian capacities to prevent and respond to crisis and conflict. We are establishing a new Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. And we are building a meaningful civilian capacity to work with countries and their peoples to prevent conflict and, where conflict does occur, to ameliorate its impacts and help countries return to sustainable peace and development.

The challenges that face all countries in today's rapidly changing world require the expertise, resources, and commitment of more than any one government. That is why the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review is ultimately about building partnerships-partnerships across all U.S. agencies, with other governments, with the private sector, with civil society, and with the people themselves. Only though such partnerships can we make meaningful progress on the collective challenges that lie ahead. And through this Review, Secretary Clinton has doubled America's commitment to building the partnerships we all need.

Together with Germany, one of our most important partners in Europe, the United States is working to make progress on a huge variety of issues, many of which fall within the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.  These include civilian reconstruction in Afghanistan, security and counterterrorism, the Transatlantic Climate Bridge, and food security and restoring economic prosperity, to name but two areas of common concern within the G20 framework.

Secretary Clinton set out 18 months ago to ask a simple question: how can we do better?  The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review is her answer.  We can, as Secretary Clinton said, "harness our civilian power to advance America's interests and help make a world in which more people in more places can live in freedom, enjoy economic opportunity, and have a chance to live up to their God-given potential."