Why Corruption Threatens Global Security

Many of the world's conflicts raging today seem to originate with religion. But there's another side to that story: governmental corruption that sparks outrage and creates support for dangerous ideologies. As an NPR correspondent, Sarah Chayes covered Algeria's civil war and the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan. But she left journalism to try to make a difference in that country. She helped Afghan women make soap — and then became an advisor to the US military. What she saw there, and then in other countries as well, is the devastation caused by political and governmental corruption. She describes it in the new book, Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security.