Oct. 3, 2011
“Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.” When President Eisenhower warned of the power of the military industrial complex in January 1961, he probably wouldn’t have guessed that the 2012 budget request for defense-related expenditures would be one trillion dollars. While conventional wisdom asserts that war and military spending are good for the economy, a 2007 report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research showed that military spending diverts resources from productive uses, such as consumption and investment, and ultimately slows economic growth and reduces employment. Today on Peace Talks, we’ll explore the relationship between economic development and peace. We’ll talk with two representatives from the Institute for Economics and Peace. Steve Killelea is the founder of the Institute and the creative force behind both the Global Peace Index and the United States Peace Index. Clyde McConaghy, a Board Director for the Institute, has been involved with the development of the Global Peace Index since its inception in 2007. Their annual rankings hope to identify the positive economic impacts of increased levels of peacefulness on a global and regional level. We’ll also talk with Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, the New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana --- the true story of the “breadwinners in burqas,” five Afghani sisters who become successful entrepreneurs during the Taliban years. They started a dressmaking business in their living room that offered work to 100 women in the neighborhood. Gayle is also the deputy director of the Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.
