The next president needs to start by thinking beyond boots on the ground. Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) gave a speech on Friday about foreign policy — specifically the threats faced by radical Islamic terrorism as embodied by, among others, the Islamic State and the Iranian regime. On the campaign trail voters have been asking Walker …
Continue reading There’s More to the War on Terror Than Guns and Bombs
Whoever wins in 2016, America's soft power strategy is in need of an update. Thankfully, U.S. foreign assistance policy has not been part of the foreign policy and national security debate in this presidential campaign season. U.S. foreign assistance is for the vast majority of voters not a vote moving issue in primaries or even …
Continue reading A Foreign Assistance Manifesto for the Next President
Most people probably don’t think of Kenya as an innovation and technology hub, but in 2007 it became the launching pad for M-Pesa, a transformative mobile phone-based platform for money transfer and financial services. Since then, M-Pesa has undergone explosive growth: in 2013, a staggering 43 percent of Kenya’s GDP flowed through M-Pesa, with over 237 million person-to-person transactions. M-Pesa …
Continue reading M-Pesa And The Rise Of The Global Mobile Money Market
Pakistan has the potential to be a global turnaround story. I recently spent time in-country listening to a wide range of perspectives and I am convinced that U.S. policymakers and business leaders need to look at Pakistan beyond the security lens. Getting our relationship right will require deeper thinking and action on issues around trade …
Daniel Runde 