Johnson School Earns Prestigious Grant to Study U.S. Military's Work With Entrepreneurs in Conflict Zones
Study to Examine the U.S. Army and Marines' Impact on Private Enterprise
February 12, 2008 | Ithaca, NY | Researchers at the Johnson School at Cornell University received a $100,000 grant from the Social Equity Venture Fund (S.E.VEN - www.sevenfund.org) to study the impact of the U.S. military's economic development efforts in various theaters of conflict - including Afghanistan and Iraq. Militaries everywhere have been asked to assume missions that involve considerable non-combatant activities. Often, these are taking place in geographies where legal, political, cultural, social, technical, and economic institutions are weak or non-existent.
This study, led by Professor Mark Milstein, Director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at the Johnson School, will examine the various approaches to promoting private enterprise utilized by the U.S. Army and Marines and compare them to those of the private sector and NGO community. Milstein predicts that the military's experience will provide insight into finding innovative ways to support local small- and medium-sized enterprises to establish an economic foundation which promotes hope, peace, and security for anguished populations.
Milstein believes the military's efforts at promoting private enterprise to alleviate poverty and advance peace and stability are not clearly understood. While other sectors of the government are seen as playing a natural and significant development role (e.g., USAID), the military's role has remained overlooked. The study assumes there is much to be gained by seeking a better understanding of the military's actions regarding enterprise solutions for poverty and promoting peace.
Through the collection and review of archival and original data, researchers will seek to develop a baseline for evaluating the military's work promoting private enterprise. The research is anticipated to have broad impacts. The military expects conclusions from the study will impact the training they provide their own personnel and personnel from other agencies of the government. Additionally, they are confident that the experimental and entrepreneurial nature of their troops in the field will yield novel insights into approaches that managers in the private and development sectors will find helpful. Colonel John F. Agoglia, Director of the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute in Carlisle, PA notes that he expects the study to, "provide insights for our partners who are involved in enterprise development, including the military, government agencies, NGOs, multi-lateral institutions, and the private sector."
Cornell University is one of four institutions to be awarded a grant by S.E.VEN's inaugural RFP Competition, a one-year program that invests in the innovative research in the field of enterprise based solutions to poverty. The other winners of this grant are:
Michael Kremer, Harvard University and Innovations for Poverty Action for a study of the economic, cultural, and psychological factors that influence entrepreneurial success, in India and Kenya; Jay Richards, The Acton Institute for the development of a documentary on the importance of free enterprise in rebuilding Rwanda and other war-torn economies; and Tanguy Bernard and Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) for a study of the factors that influence an individual's ability to conceptualize and aspire to a better future or a better life, with a focus on Ethiopia.
