As we enter the next century, Americans must realize that part of being a good citizen is being educated and knowledgeable about the world. It's not just business graduate students who need to understand the complexity of global interdependencies. The United States is no longer an island working primarily with its neighbors to the north and south. America is the largest economy in the world, getting the most out of the market the world has to offer. We have much to gain from working to ensure productive world harmony, so it is time that undergraduate and public-school curricula prepare citizens for the future.
National security is the most fundamental task of a government.
Securing peace is cheaper than fighting wars, and the global community is discovering that economic interdependence and synergy are fundamental to peace. During the Cold War, nations poured most of their resources into developing weapons too dangerous to use. When the economy of the Soviet Union could no longer sustain this effort, the stalemate was broken, and the world got a second chance at another kind of peace. Now, seven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Poland and Hungary are reborn, and 24 other countries have emerged. The Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Moldova, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan are each struggling in different ways and against many odds to become economically independent.