By Morley Winograd and
Michael D. Hais
The phrase, “Think
Globally, Act Locally”
has often been used by
environmentalists to sum
up a strategy devoted to
conserving the earth's
scarce natural resources
at the local level. More
recently, business
executives borrowed the
idea to emphasize the
need for building
capabilities at the
country or regional
level even as they
pursue global growth.
But now the Millennial
Generation, Americans
born between 1982 and
2003, are giving the
phrase an entirely new
meaning as they pursue
their efforts to change
the world – one local
community at a time.
In contrast to the
generational stereotypes
many people hold of
them, Millennials are
very much concerned
about and connected to
the world around them –
more so, in fact, than
many older Americans.
Responding to questions
on foreign policy in a
recent Pew Research
Center survey, only 9%
of Millennials were
unable to express an
opinion on how President
Obama is doing in
working with our allies,
while almost a quarter
of senior citizens had
no opinion on the same
subject. On the knotty
question of
Israeli/Palestinian
relations, all but 7% of
Millennials could tell
survey researchers what
they thought of American
foreign policy in this
area. On the other hand,
26% of senior citizens
could not (see table
below).
In addition to its high
level of concern with
international matters,
the Millennial
Generation's ability to
make virtual friends
instantaneously on
Facebook or Twitter with
Iranian protesters
provides a unique
perspective on how to
deal with America’s
foreign policy
challenges.
Perhaps most notable is
how the Millennial
Generation deals with
the concept of
"threats". A majority of
Millennials do see Al
Qaeda, and the nuclear
programs of North Korea
and Iran as "major
threats" to the United
States, but by rates 15
to 20 points less than
other generations. Other
more intractable but
less direct security
concerns, such as the
drug trade in Mexico,
China’s emergence as a
world power, or
conflicts in the Mideast
ranging from Pakistan to
Palestine, are not
considered a major
threat among a majority
of Millennials. To be
sure, some of these
attitudes may reflect
the inevitable naiveté
of young people, but we
believe the underlying
beliefs of Millennials
suggest an alternative
explanation.
Millennials have been
taught since at least
high school that the
best way to solve a
societal problem is act
upon it locally and
directly. Tired of
exalted rhetoric from
Boomer leaders that
rarely produced results
and frustrated by their
older Gen-X siblings
lack of interest in
pursuing any collective
action to address broad
social problems,
Millennials have
embraced individual
initiative linked to
community action.
Eighty-five percent of
college age Millennials
consider voluntary
community service an
effective way to solve
the nation’s problems.
Virtually everyone in
the generation (94%)
believes it’s an
effective way to deal
with challenges in their
local community. No
wonder one of Barack
Obama’s first
legislative initiatives,
the Kennedy National
Service Act, was in
response to the desire
to serve of his most
loyal constituency, the
Millennial Generation.
And when it comes to
public service,
Millennials are putting
their money where their
mouth is, although lack
of opportunity in the
private sector also
could be accelerating
this public service
trend. Teach for
America, which places
new graduates in
low-income schools, saw
a 42% increase in
applications over 2008.
Around 35,000 students
are now competing for
about 4,000 slots. U.S.
undergraduates ranked
Teach for America and
the Peace Corps among
their top 10 "ideal
employers," ahead of the
likes of Nike or General
Electric.
Scotty Fay, a recent
University of
Massachusetts graduate,
typifies the continuing
belief of her generation
in the importance of
collective action to
cope with a challenging
world. “If we excel and
we’re able to keep
ourselves working, we’ll
be OK, we hope, because
we haven’t experienced
anything different than
that,” says Fay, who
worked two jobs on top
of her full-time course
load, and is now getting
ready for her Peace
Corps assignment in
Guinea.
First Lady Michelle
Obama, in kicking off
the administration’s
“summer of service”
initiative, made it
clear that the
administration sees this
belief as key to
America’s future. “This
new Administration
doesn’t view service as
separate from our
national priorities, or
in addition to our
national priorities – we
see it as the key to
achieving our national
priorities.” Given the
likelihood of continuing
employment challenges
for America’s newest
workers, more and more
Millennials are likely
to gain their first work
experiences performing
some type of voluntary
service.
This penchant for public
service shapes the
beliefs of Millennials
on how the United States
should deal with the
problems it faces around
the world. In last
year's contest for the
Democratic presidential
nomination, Millennials
believed Barack Obama
was right and Hillary
Clinton was wrong over
whether to conduct
direct talks with our
enemies. And they
thought Sarah Palin was
completely off base when
she declared in her
acceptance speech at the
convention that “the
world is not a community
and it doesn’t need an
organizer.” In fact,
Millennials believe that
what the world needs
most is thousands of
community organizers,
working on the ground to
solve their own
country’s problems,
linked electronically,
of course, to friends
around the world.
This is a trend that,
appropriately, resonates
outside our borders as
well. Grassroots
activism, led largely by
young Iranians, produced
protests that may yet
topple one of the most
autocratic regimes in
the world. Activism of
this type across the
Mideast could result in
regime changes of far
greater consequence than
the military conquest
strategy the United
States employed in Iraq.
Given the distinctions
Millennials make between
the seriousness of
direct military threats,
such as terrorism and
nuclear proliferation,
as opposed to squabbles
over power or territory,
America’s foreign policy
is likely to shift
towards a more
multi-lateral,
institution-building
focus as this generation
assumes our country’s
leadership. This will
occur even as
Millennials continue to
express support for our
military by word and
deed – when that becomes
the only available
option.
It may take a decade or
two before we know how
the Millennial
Generation's belief in
the need to “think
globally, act locally”
will impact our overall
foreign policy. But in
the interim, the United
States will surely
benefit from the
generation's focus on
rebuilding our country,
as well as the world,
one community at a time.
