Examines the connection between poverty, fragile states, and transnational conflict and the implications for American security.

Foreword / Strobe Talbott -- The national security implications of global poverty / Susan E. Rice -- Poverty and state weakness / Susan E. Rice -- Poverty, development, and violent extremism in weak states / Corinne Graff -- Poverty, state weakness, and civil war / Andrew Loomis -- Feeding insecurity? : poverty, weak states, and climate change / Joshua Busby -- State weakness and infectious diseases / Miriam Estrin and Carl Malm -- Conclusion and policy implications / Carlos Pascual and Corinne Graff.