‘Times Book Review’: Carnegie’s Report on Conflict

The release of the Carnegie Corporation’s report, “Preventing Deadly Conflict,” may “set a record for cost,” writes Judith Miller in The New York Times Book Review (February 15). The report, which cost $9.5-million to produce, was prepared by a committee chaired by David Hamburg, president emeritus of Carnegie, and former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance and was first made public at a party in Washington; two other book parties will be held in New York and London.

Ms. Miller, a long-time Middle East correspondent for the Times who also covers philanthropy, writes that she was surprised that even after spending all that money, the commission came up with no new proposals for stopping the kinds of conflicts that have killed more than four million people since 1989. In addition, she says, the report is written in such a New Age tone that it ”often sounds like it had been written in a hot tub.” What surprised her even more, she writes, was that so few foreign-policy experts were willing to say so on the record — largely out of fear of jeopardizing future grants from Carnegie, she surmises.

“Few scholars or foreign-policy analysts seem shocked or even surprised by the use of tax-exempt foundation dollars for, in effect, a $9.5-million reward for Hamburg’s long stewardship and his admirable intentions,” Ms. Miller writes. “This is how the world of philanthropy works, I was told.”

Some people who were not Carnegie grant recipients were more likely to criticize the report, she wrote. Leslie Lenkowsky, a professor at the Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis Center on Philanthropy, told her the report was “a classic example of ‘false philanthropy,’ or aspiring to do what cannot be done instead of spend-

ing the $9-million on small but do-able things.”

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Correction: The above item incorrectly described the $9.5-million the Carnegie Corporation spent on its efforts to prevent deadly conflicts. The figure includes the entire amount spent by a committee that developed several reports, not just the final report issued by the committee.