For all of its diplomatic and military efforts, the U.S. has been unable to end unrest and extremism in the Middle East and other troubled regions of the world. One reason, former State Department official Steven Koltai suggests, is a failure to understand that terrorist groups are fueled less by ideology than by a lack of attractive economic prospects for the young men they enlist.

Koltai, a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution who served as senior advisor for entrepreneurship under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, examines the issue in a discussion of his new book Peace through Entrepreneurship: Investing in a Startup Culture for Security and Development. If joblessness fuels extremist movements, he says, perhaps job provision and economic growth can foster the security that past responses have not.

Co-presented by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.