For starters, it's remarkable to me how many of the major architects of the Vietnam War ended up leading the early global aid establishment: Robert McNamara: Secretary of Defense -> World Bank President (1968-81) MacGeorge Bundy: NSA -> Ford Foundation President (66-79) (2/?)

Major theme of book is how antipoverty programs came to focus on women: Big US policy shift was the 1973 Percy Amendment, which mandated that foreign aid to give "particular attention [to projects that]... integrate women into the national economies of foreign countries." (3/?)

This new focus on Women in Development (WID) was the result of years of work by economists Ester Boserup & Clara Beyer + advocacy by Mildred Marcy & Virginia Allan. Despite increases in funding, USAID's WID division faced bureaucratic resistance and internal hostility. (4/?)

USAID's WID focus also faced skepticism from the Global South. A 1976 conference at Wellesley saw a "painful clash" b/w the Americans & the "third world women", who condemned "all manifestations of capitalism", & favored "national liberation which would not exclude women" (5/?)

USAID-funded initiatives also often clashed w local governments, encroaching on local prerogatives/sovereignty in a way that exposed power imbalances. This passage, on an incident w a researcher in Kenya, is really worth reading in full. (6/?)

Also re: Kenya: The term "informal sector" was first used in a 1972 ILO report on Kenya. (50 years ago!) To respond to rising urban populations, it called for "vigorous action... to facilitate employment and raise incomes in the informal sector." (7/?)

@oliverwkim @DefNotPat ’s study of Robert McNamara’s time at the World Bank also argues the Vietnam War was important in shaping his thinking about the purpose of international development and global poverty

@jamestwotree @DefNotPat Ah, do you have a link? McNamara is a personal obsession of mine. I have an essay on the Fog of War lined up which I will eventually put out there.

@oliverwkim I recommend reading Lily Geismer’s new book Left Behind—it explores the Clintons’ obsession with microfinance and microenterprise in considerable detail