Using Capitalism to fight the causes of terrorism

One commonly held view is that a good deal of terrorism or at least anti-American feelings which run rampant through Asia and Africa (and even parts of Europe) is that America is rich and abuses its wealth by consuming more than a fair share of resources (this is not to discount other reasons, including cultural differences regarding culture and sexuality). Over the years America, alone or in combination with allies, has launched many programs to combat Third World poverty but few have succeeded due to ineptitude, corruption, and simple bad luck. Erick Schonfeld, writing in Business 2.0, discusses the ideas of C.K. Prahalad to use corporate self-interest to succeed where past efforts have failed. Prahalad points to successful ventures by Citibank and Unilever to develop win-win situations in India that allow “the disenfranchised who want to join the market economy” to do so. The cited programs not only develop the disenfranchised as customers on a consumer level but permit them to develop new businesses (or make significant improvements to existing ones) that bring them squarely into the capitalist camp. Prahalad wrote The Multinational Mission (back in 1987) to explore this concept in depth; he is also chairman of San Diego-based software house Praja.