Some urgent new thinking is needed if any lessons are to be learnt from the recent disasters. This book brings together the experience of a number of writers who have worked on, or studied, poverty alleviation programmes in Asia and Africa.

We live in anxious times, all too aware that governments can fail, markets too collapse and that NGOs, parties and other organisations in civil society are also prone to lose sight of the common good. Responsibility and its Avoidance seeks to understand the dynamic processes through which people struggle to produce a sound environment, stable trading arrangements, competent governance, personal security and other aspects of a 'liveable society'. In Responsibility and its Avoidance, Donald Curtis brings a practitioner focus as a project manager in development to his essays, as well as a UK and World citizen concern for current social dilemmas. He seeks and occasionally finds, enlightenment in academic theory but, aware that contradictions in governance are as old as history, sometimes seeks solace in other people's cultures or in literature. A key finding is that good governance is a matter of exercised responsibility. What emerged, through the themes of the various chapters, is that society's attempts to create constitutions, governance structures and management processes through which leaders and citizens can exercise responsibility for the public good, run up against an avoidance paradox. As soon as an agreed allocation of responsibilities is achieved, with obligations and commitments set out and accountability processes established, perverse incentives set in. Common purpose can always be deemed personally costly, encouraging neglect, manipulation, avoidance or other forms of negation. The socially concerned citizen must commit to constant struggle against institutional decay and corruption; so runs Curtis' thesis: responsibility is not good unless it is shared.

This work focuses on the military and diplomatic role played by Major General William S. Graves and the United States Army expeditionary force sent to Siberia as part of a joint American-Japanese intervention following the Bolshevik Revolution. The United States faced a very difficult mission due to the motivations of the other occupying forces, particularly the Japanese. As the United States sought to allow some form of self-determination in Civil War Russia, the American experience would reflect many of the same issues and troubles that have beset more recent attempts at nation-building. Japanese expansionism that would in part lead to war in the Pacific in 1941 was on full display in Siberia in 1918. General Graves was also in the now familiar position of having to oversee competing national and international interests in a war-torn country. The story of the AEF Siberia and its commander has great relevance in the 21st Century as it too occurred in a time of political upheaval that seemed to threaten the fabric of Western society.

Each chapter inspires you to work on a particular aspect of your life, teaches you how to change it for the better through meditation and a remarkable technique called "The Golden Bridge", and ends with a prayer affirmation of self-realization to help you focus and direct your thoughts immediately.

Beginning with his own experience of overcoming a lifelong, excruciating pain and ultimately realizing his personal mission in life, Dr. Curtis draws upon his many years as a minister of metaphysics to show readers how to explore the inner consciousness via 12 vital steps, including relaxation, realization, conviction, and action.