Bridging the Divide Between Security and Development

Then Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, famously remarked that long-term security is not possible without development, and that sustainable development is not achievable in the absence of security. Indeed, pursuing security objectives and development priorities simultaneously is a concept that has gained considerable attention among world leaders and policymakers. Nonetheless, there remains a deep divide between developing and developed countries. Nations of the Global South necessarily prioritize development objectives and regional security concerns, such as improving public health, expanding trade, and combating human, arms, and drug trafficking.  Yet the North focuses the lion's share of its attention and resources on "hard security" issues, including countering the spread and use of weapons of mass destruction and preventing global terrorism.

The Managing Across Boundaries program has been at the forefront of harnessing hard security resources to bridge this security/development divide and mutually advance our domestic and foreign policy objectives. MAB has developed a  "dual benefit" model for engagement with the Global South-one that can achieve realistic, sustainable programs that enable developing countries to better meet their international obligations to nonproliferation and counterterrorism, while simultaneously making progress toward addressing their most pressing domestic security and development needs.

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