"The Locust Effect should be required reading for every politician, every law enforcement professional, and every anti-poverty advocate. It is a tour de force that will change your frame of reference and banish your sense of complacency. After you read it, you will have no excuse for ignoring the enormous toll that unchecked violence takes on the global poor."
"It’s rare for me to pump a non-CGD book on our CGD website. But Haugen makes a compelling argument that the development community has badly neglected the problem of everyday violence in the lives of the poor. His new book, Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence brings gut-wrenching stories to that argument."
"Mr. Haugen is right: violence in poor countries merits far more attention from donors in the rich world."
"In their book, Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros make the case that violence and the broken justice systems behind it are keeping hundreds of millions people in emerging markets from achieving real economic gains."
"The Locust Effect…tackles one of today's most difficult topics, Poverty and Violence. Often individuals do not connect the two atrocities, yet in society these two often work in tandem…Filled with detailed examples, The Locust Effect not only stimulates the mind with statistics and reasoning, but also pulls the heart into the midst of each individual's story."
"To paraphrase the preacher in Ecclesiastes, there is no end to the writing of books about the causes and solutions to global poverty…But [The Locust Effect] shines a much-needed light on what, in hindsight, is an obvious contributor to the problem: the endemic violence that plagues poor communities."
"Just now, there is a small subterranean war in American evangelicalism about who Abraham Kuyper actually was…but Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros have claimed and revitalized a very real Kuyper, in my opinion, with a practical, pressing theology of public justice. The Locust Effect yields the best of his legacy."
"In the discussion of the urgent need to reform justice,… one of the forgotten issues is the legal security of the poorest and the relationship between overcoming poverty and functionality of the justice system…Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros particularly emphasize this issue in The Locust Effect: the harmful effects of daily violence on the most disadvantaged in the world effectively nullify and reverse everything that is being done to improve their lives."
"In many poor countries, rape, forced labour and land theft occur routinely, it seems. With a hint of bitterness, [Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros] note that development agencies fixate on less thorny issues - hunger, disease and homelessness. Meanwhile, suspects railroaded into the court system on wobbly grounds wilt."
"The Locust Effect convincingly argue[s] that all our best work to eradicate poverty — even while worthwhile, helpful, and well-intended — is for naught unless we concurrently address the epidemic of violence and fear facing the poor in the developing world."
"Just a few pages into Gary Haugen’s new book, The Locust Effect, you will realize that you are reading something significant. By the end of the book, it seems obvious that both the goal and result of this book will be to significantly reshape how we think about anti-poverty efforts."
"[The Locust Effect is] well written, researched, organized, and so forth. To me, though, it’s more than a book. It’s an awakening, a call, a responsibility. It’s one of those things that you can’t just read; you have to do something. Because now you know."
"There is a deeper, much darker problem below the surface of poverty. The problem is violence. [But] Haugen paints a hopeful future where Christians, churches, and law enforcement rise to the occasion to protect the innocent around them. It will be a messy and uphill battle, but one that is very dear to the heart of God."
"If you want to be shaken out of your comfort zone, this book will definitely accomplish that. After reading The Locust Effect, you'll be simultaneously disgusted and fired up. You'll want to roll up your sleeves and start the arduous process of making the world a better place for all its inhabitants."
