U.S. and Department of Defense Building Partnership Capacity and Counter/Anti-Corruption: A Symbiotic Relationship or One at Odds
Abstract
The inherent belief that "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" are indeed "inalienable Rights" and should be spread through promoting democracy is rooted in American history and still a foundational tenet found in Americas National Security Strategy (NSS). The instrument of default, and often first choice, utilized to carry out America's inherent beliefs has been the Department of Defense (DoD), in part, through Building Partnership Capacity (BPC) initiatives. Although the NSS clearly states America needs to continue to promote democratic values, it also caveats and stresses the importance of countering corruption in US BPC nations in a time when resources are finite and hard choices need to be made. Placing these caveats on building partner capacity has been difficult and challenging especially when many of DoD's BPC initiatives occur in highly corrupt environments. This paper uses sub-Saharan Africa to analyze why counter/anti-corruption objectives are not a substantive part of DoD's BPC portfolio despite the NSS counter/anti-corruption emphasis. Three primary reasons are analyzed: the lack of emphasis on counter/anti-corruption in DoD strategic and support documents, Africa is a Sellers Market, and partners using extraversion as Soft Extortion. This paper utilizes DoD BPC experiences in Sub-Saharan Africa to provide a backdrop and specific examples to illustrate why counter/anti-corruption objectives are not a substantive part of DoD's BPC portfolio. Finally, this paper concludes by addressing the negative consequences that have resulted due to the US and DoD's lack of substantive efforts to enact counter/anti-corruption initiates in BPC nations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 16, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1037600
Entities
People
- Tony S. Lombardo
Organizations
- Air War College