James Kunder
James Kunder is a Senior Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). He advises on international development issues including the modernization of foreign assistance and the nexus between security and development.
Previously, Mr. Kunder served as acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. government organization responsible for administering the U.S. foreign assistance programs.
He has extensive government and private sector experience in international development. Beginning in July 2004 at USAID, he served as assistant administrator for Asia and the Near East. Previously, from July 2002 to July 2004, he was the deputy assistant administrator for Asia and the Near East and from January to May 2002, he was director for relief and reconstruction in Afghanistan.
From 1987 to 1991, Mr. Kunder was deputy assistant administrator for external affairs at USAID. He then served as director of the Agency's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance from 1991 to 1993. From 1993 to 1996, he was vice president for program development at Save the Children Federation, an international non-governmental organization dedicated to improving the lives of children in the United States and around the world.
Mr. Kunder has also served as a legislative director in the U.S. House of Representatives, senior transportation analyst for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and deputy director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He was an infantry platoon commander in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1970 to 1973.
He has published numerous articles on international humanitarian issues, peacekeeping and crisis management.
Additionally, Kunder testified before the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization, and Procurement in April 2009:
USAID: Management Challenges and Strategic Objectives
Education:
Mr. Kunder has a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in political science and a master's in international relations from Georgetown University.
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Publications
The Roadmap for a Grand BargainJuly 22, 2010The U.S. government must have a global, unified, straightforward, powerful, and measurable development assistance strategy to attain the elusive “Grand Bargain” among stakeholders.
A Fundamentally Flawed Afghan PolicyNovember 01, 2009The key flaw in the current allied policy in Afghanistan is the obsessive focus on defeating the Taliban rather than focusing on the real problems of illiteracy, social deprivation and rural feudalism of which the Taliban are really an epiphenomenon. Policymakers must also put aside misleading analogies with Iraq, however tempting they may be, and consider Afghanistan in its own domestic context.
Diplomacy and Development in the 21st CenturyMay 21, 2009On May 21, GMF Senior Transatlantic Fellow Jim Kunder responded to U.S. Senator John Kerry's speech on "Diplomacy and Development in the 21st Century."
