Carnegie Corporation of New York: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century

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International Program

While investing in national priorities, naturally, we cannot forget the current realities facing our world today, and hence, our international relations and obligations. These are especially critical now, when so many political, economic, ethnic, demographic, social, cultural and religious forces are in flux. The fast, and seemingly inexorable, pace of globalization, fueled by continuing technological and scientific advances, is improving prosperity in many parts of the world and breaking down geographic barriers. (In this context, however, it is important to note that over one-in-six people around the world continue to live in extreme poverty, on less than one dollar a day.) But globalization is a two-edged sword. The rising tide of extremism has grown, in part, as a reaction to globalizing forces that are seen in some quarters as a threat to the existing order of things. At this juncture, foreign policy choices made by influential powers, particularly the United States, could either strengthen positive trends or deepen fragmentation along cultural, regional and religious divides. The interdependence of today’s international community also requires the active involvement of developing countries in advancing global cohesion and prosperity, in areas ranging from managing energy resources to the looming crisis of worldwide environmental degradation. In the age of globalization, their capacity to modernize and integrate with the rest of the world is a major factor in shaping the future.

While much depends on the actions of governments, nongovernmental organizations in the United States and around the world, and the foundations that fund them, have an important role to play. In open and democratic societies in which governments are influenced by the public, policy relevant think tanks, academic research centers and other institutions produce independent expertise, foster public and policy-level debate and build bridges across national and international divides. In developing countries with fragile civil societies, universities and libraries, along with other institutions, also preserve and protect cultures under stress from the accelerating process of globalization, generate and disseminate contextually relevant expertise, adapt global knowledge for local use and nurture the next generation of citizens and leaders. Given this context, the continuing attention of the nongovernmental sector to the underlying issues of peace and development is particularly critical now. In the United States, the events of 9/11 and the subsequent U.S. military involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with increasing concerns about national security, have heightened the awareness of the American public about world affairs and have increased the prominence of foreign policy in national discourse. This factor, combined with the difficult foreign policy decisions that face American policymakers and the public, amplify the responsibilities of private actors to assist in seeking solutions to global challenges. The economic progress underway in several developing countries also enhances the ability of nongovernmental institutions to deepen the process of reform and revitalization. Universities and libraries have greater room to maneuver and greater ability to influence change.

The Corporation’s International Program is designed to respond to these needs and opportunities, bearing in mind that while many of our ongoing program concerns remain valid, others have been altered by global trends or overshadowed by more pressing needs and a world that has grown increasingly complex. For example, the nuclear threat, which the Corporation has sought to address for more than twenty years, still looms large because of a multiplicity of factors, including the sheer numbers of existing nuclear weapons (and the potential for more to be built), the addition of India, Pakistan and North Korea to the nuclear club, Iran’s nuclear aspirations, the growing international interest in nuclear energy and the possibility that nonstate actors, terrorist organizations among them, could acquire nuclear weapons. Russia’s economic recovery and the reduced danger of direct U.S.-Russian confrontation have lessened Russia’s centrality to U.S. foreign and security policy (while at the same time opening areas of regional competition such as in Eurasia). But the economic, military and strategic rise of China, India, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Russia has begun shifting the center of global gravity from the West to the East with as yet uncertain ramifications for U.S. interests or international stability. The drive for national self-determination that ignited conflicts in the immediate post-Cold-War period has been overshadowed by weak or collapsed states in which central governments are unable to provide basic services, guarantee security and prevent political anarchy or civil war. A problem that has been magnified since 1999 is the perceived gap between liberal Western and mostly traditional Muslim societies, fueled in part by 9/11 and the events that followed. In the international development area, some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia have begun the process of economic recovery, but much remains to be done by their national leaders to build viable institutions and deepen reforms within those institutions.

In seeking to advance an agenda that has international peace at its core—as it was for so much of the philanthropic work of Andrew Carnegie—the International Program will focus on several specific, but interrelated grantmaking areas, as described below.

Nuclear Security

Nuclear weapons and their proliferation to states and nonstate actors remain, arguably, the biggest threat to humanity than can be managed and reduced through policies and actions. While the potential use of nuclear weapons by a major nuclear state has diminished with the end of the Cold War, the nuclear threat has not disappeared but has splintered into many separate threats, some of them even more difficult to discern or address. Earlier concerns over Russia’s nuclear arsenals based on the country’s economic problems, political uncertainty and a tremendous pool of scientific talent have been largely alleviated. Russia’s economic rise, combined with major efforts of the international community, particularly of the Nunn-Lugar Amendment to the Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act of 1991, which offered millions of dollars to assist the Russians in their control and disposal of nuclear warheads, have reduced concerns about Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

However, other sources of nuclear danger have since arisen. China is modernizing its nuclear weapons in an environment devoid of bilateral and multilateral discussions. Nuclear weapons and materials in India and Pakistan continue to cause concern, while the relevancy of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) also has been undermined by North Korea’s withdrawal from the treaty and Iran’s pursuit of nuclear energy without adequate safeguards despite it being a signatory. The lack of movement among the original nuclear powers toward the elimination of nuclear weapons—a commitment enshrined in the NPT—as well as growing international interest in nuclear energy, further erodes the current nuclear regime. All these factors heighten prospects that nuclear weapons may proliferate and be used, and make it both logical and imperative that nuclear security remain a central feature of the Corporation’s International Program. In doing so, we will continue to support policy relevant research and outreach to the policy community and public on this crucial theme. Building on more than a quarter century of experience in supporting Track II diplomacy, including early efforts involving Soviet and American, and later Indian and Pakistani, experts and policymakers, we also will continue to promote this mode of engagement in the volatile and high stakes cases of North Korea and Iran. In this connection, it is heartening to note that in a recent Newsweek article, new UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon voices support for engagement and dialogue that takes place “behind the scenes, since that is where the potential for success is often greatest.”

U.S. Global Engagement

The nature and scope of challenges to the United States and international security require cooperative measures. Whether the dangers stem from nuclear weapons, terrorism, states at risk, underdevelopment, or the interplay among them, they cannot be addressed by a single power, no matter how dominant. The special standing of the United States in the post-Cold War unipolar world has led to foreign policy decisions and actions that have put our nation at odds with its traditional allies and other major powers. U.S. engagement with the world needs to be redefined to effectively manage the interlocking challenges of today while also moving toward a more secure and prosperous international environment for the future. This requires building new kinds of relationships with both major and emerging powers.

While deepening global engagement, the United States must also be mindful of international trends and their implications for national and international security. New thinking is needed about near- and long-term strategic challenges, particularly in light of the rise of China, India, Russia and political, economic and military developments in the European Union, the diverse “Islamic world” and in other parts of the globe. Independent research institutions, including think tanks and academic-based centers are able to focus their expertise and attention on policy trends without having to respond to the daily demands that preoccupy policymakers. These institutions also have the ability, enhanced by their international reach and reputation to engage with experts and policymakers outside of the United States, either through Track II-type meetings or through other forms of engagement. The Corporation will capitalize on these advantages through efforts such as engaging experts and policymakers from the United States, China, India, Russia and possibly other countries to address specific issues and through policy relevant research and outreach on U.S. foreign and security policy.

States at Risk

Today, more than a quarter of the world’s states are considered at risk of instability or collapse. In the post-9/11 era, there has been increasing recognition that such states not only imperil lives at the local level, but also threaten security and stability around the globe. Not surprisingly, states at risk are found in regions of the developing world where national borders are particularly porous and under persistent stress from internal and external forces. Most have emerged from violent conflict and, as recent history attests, have a better than even chance of relapsing into warfare given the failure of external “peacebuilding” efforts to create viable, effective states capable of protecting their citizens and providing for their basic needs. Ongoing challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as troubling developments in other parts of the world, have highlighted the scope of the problem while also complicating efforts to build political consensus around U.S. and international responses. Given authoritative predictions about a coming proliferation of states at risk, the ability of developed countries to devise cooperative, coherent and effective approaches to this problem represents one of the most urgent security—as well as development and humanitarian—challenges of our age.

Despite almost two decades of post-Cold War experience with states at risk, from Haiti and Bosnia, to Somalia and East Timor, the lessons from these interventions have not been adequately absorbed and operationalized by policymakers. The international community has generally approached each succeeding crisis as if it were the first time, with great inefficiencies in human and material resources. Recent institutional reforms at the UN and by U.S. and European governments designed to address this shortcoming have yet to have significant impact on the ground. Compounding the problem has been a dearth of trained experts who combine a broad range of interdisciplinary skills from such fields as international development, law and security. There also is growing understanding that, ultimately, states cannot be made to work without local “ownership” of the peacebuilding process. While scholarship has identified the key elements of state reconstruction, major disagreements remain about how, when, by whom and—of particular concern—for how long outside assistance should be provided. The Corporation will respond to these challenges by helping develop a cadre of informed experts capable of advancing policies and practices in this area, and by supporting high quality research and the integration and synthesis of best practices that provide useful insights to policymakers and practitioners about the nature of the problem and possible solutions.

Islam Initiative

Since September 11, 2001, it has become clear that no thoughtful—and realistic—organization can work in the international arena without deepening the breadth and scope of our knowledge and understanding about Islam as a religion, about Islamic civilizations, and about Muslim states and societies. Estimates are that 1.2 billion people around the world are Muslims—but like members of the other Abrahamic faiths, Christianity and Judaism, they are not a monolithic entity, nor are they all of one race, one ethnicity, one language or even one region, as Islam is prominent in areas stretching from North Africa to China to Indonesia. Our Islam Initiative will work in tandem with our Carnegie Scholars Program, which for four years has been focused specifically on Islam and has supported 74 scholars studying issues relating to Islam and to the more than 50 states and societies with predominantly Muslim populations. Corporation-supported scholarship has focused on such areas as how Islam is practiced and interpreted in societies where it is either a majority or minority religion and how Islam has influenced—and has been affected by—the process of globalization.

Understanding both Islam as a world religion and Islamic civilizations is one facet of the Corporation’s grantmaking, but so is gaining greater understanding of the role of Muslim communities in terms of America’s national life: today, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are close to 2.5 million Muslims living in the United States, and those numbers are on the rise. They comprise one more stream in the multiplicity of ethnic, racial, linguistic and religious groups that for more than two centuries have come to the United States and contributed to the rich social and cultural tapestry that is our nation. And like others before them, they too must be integrated into our society and engage positively with our democracy and our democratic institutions. Our strength as a society and a democracy is rooted in our diversity and in the concept of E Pluribus Unum; both are necessary for the strength and development of our democracy. Higher Education in sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia

Education, especially higher education, is a lever of change within societies. Emerging countries in particular need higher education to modernize, advance and close the gap with the developed world. This requires first-rate universities with capabilities to train political, business, nonprofit and academic leaders. But creating such universities takes resources, knowledge and skills. Today, many universities in developing countries are grossly underfinanced, inadequately supported by governments and suffering a brain drain, while the pressure for expansion is increasing due to universal secondary education policies. In much of Africa and Eurasia, declining financial resources in the 1980s and the 1990s depressed subsidies for faculty salaries, libraries, laboratories and physical plants and have led to deteriorated conditions.

While leading universities in Africa and Eurasia have now begun the process of revitalization, they still face severe challenges. Among these are the quality of research, teaching and training that stem from outdated curricula, aging faculty and lack of such key elements as access to literature and information, interaction with international academic communities, infrastructure, opportunities for research and professional advancement. Another major challenge is inadequate leadership and managerial skills, including the skills to mobilize resources for the university and manage research operations. As the universities face growing pressures to become locally relevant, globally competitive and financially self-sustaining, they require leadership skills beyond the traditional academic credentials. In addition, educational content and modes of teaching are out of date and are not generating the knowledge and skills needed by employers. A particular challenge for Africa is the education of women. Despite some recent progress, most women face formidable barriers to full equality and lag behind in social and economic status. Even though there is nearly universal agreement about the importance of female education to development, women constitute less than 26 percent of university entrants in Africa and are equally underrepresented in academic positions.

The Corporation has focused on strengthening universities and academic communities in sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia since 1999. Going forward, in sub-Saharan Africa we will sharpen our focus. While the Corporation’s core commitment to strengthen the institutional capacity of eight universities in the countries of South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria is scaling down, we will continue to fund certain institutions, though moving away from support of infrastructure-type programs to initiatives that strengthen teaching, learning, research, scholarship, leadership and entrepreneurship in these universities. This work, which we will continue to carry out both on our own and as part of the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa—a collaboration among the Corporation, the Ford, Rockefeller, MacArthur, Hewlett, Mellon and Kresge foundations—will entail enhancing existing programs and exploring opportunities for new ones, particularly in the areas of leadership, management and entrepreneurship. One of the most impressive outcomes of this foundation partnership has been that co-funding enabled universities in several sub-Saharan countries to form a consortium to purchase a six-fold increase in online bandwidth and share Internet capacity at lower rates—a critical step toward parity in the digital world.

Along with our investments in universities, we cannot forget the importance of individual scholars in the crucial area of the sciences as well as the humanities and the social sciences. This is particularly true in those developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa, where the emphasis on science and engineering has resulted in a tendency to neglect the cultural legacy and history of the continent, which should not be outsourced but preserved and promoted by indigenous talent. Hence, we will be undertaking a major new program of graduate-level research fellowships for the humanities as a means of strengthening this discipline and building a critical mass of scholars in sub-Saharan Africa where academic communities have limited access to world literature, networks and associations. This work will be administered for the Corporation by the American Council of Learned Societies. To further strengthen individual capacity, the Corporation also will support regional networks in selected scientific fields, including a new Regional Initiative in Science and Education (RISE), which is administered by the Institute for Advanced Study and the Third World Academy of Sciences. We expect the program to eventually be scaled up by the World Bank, other large-scale donors, and African governments.

As part of strengthening higher education in the former Soviet Union, the Corporation has created nine CASEs in Russia that are located at leading universities across the country and four CASE-like centers in other parts of Eurasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia). The CASEs provide financial and programmatic support to academics working in the social science disciplines and opportunities for their interaction with colleagues within and outside of Eurasia. While support for the Russian CASEs is being phased out, funding for the other centers (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia), which were established more recently, will continue. Moving forward, greater emphasis will be paid to promoting international networks, interactions between and among Corporation-created centers and strengthening the leadership skills of the individuals associated with the centers and their host universities. Libraries and Information

As with universities, libraries are levers of change within societies because access to knowledge and information is a critical factor in modernization, advancement and economic competitiveness. In developing countries, public and university libraries serve a central role in improving literacy levels, increasing access by students and the general public to books, journals and eventually to information technologies. In some areas they also serve as auxiliary classrooms and even provide the only place where a student from a crowded home where basics such as electricity may be lacking, can find to study. In addition, access to knowledge and information through electronic communication is enabling some developing countries to work more rapidly toward their economic, political and social goals by capitalizing on the research, development and investments made by others. In many parts of the developing world, libraries are key providers of access to electronic communication.

In the resource-scarce environment of African countries, libraries are given a low priority by governments and international funders alike. With the exception of those in South Africa, most are in a parlous state with severely deteriorated infrastructure, stock and services. Reflecting the interests of Andrew Carnegie, the Corporation has been making major investments in sub-Saharan African libraries. Corporation resources will continue to be directed toward revitalizing public and university libraries in sub-Saharan Africa, including their capacity to interface with the digital world of knowledge and information. As they do all over the globe—but particularly in developing countries—libraries serve as levers of change within societies because they provide access to knowledge and information is a critical factor in modernization, advancement and economic competitiveness.