Defense
U.S. domestic security and foreign policy depend on a strong and well-funded military, a streamlined force structure armed with cutting-edge technology, and robust intelligence policies. AEI’s Defense Policy Studies Program seeks to redefine the U.S. force posture for the twenty-first century; to explore the prospects for global rebasing; to interpret the war in Iraq and its part in the larger war on terror; and to examine security policies and practices around the world. Thomas Donnelly and Frederick W. Kagan have launched a major initiative of conferences, working groups, and publications to evaluate and offer recommendations about the present organization and future orientation of land power services within the overal defense context. Their recent book, Ground Truth: The Future of U.S. Land Power (AEI Press, May 2008), offers conclusions and recommendations from the project's findings. Stemming from questions raised by this project, Messrs. Donnelly and Kagan are commissioning six new essays on related topics for a second volume, which will be released in early 2009. Mr. Donnelly is also writing a new book, America's Long Wars, which will chart the success of four American long wars abroad and will conclude with some reflections on the nation's current long war in the greater Middle East. Gary J. Schmitt and Reuel Marc Gerecht are collaborating on a new book project that will examine the security policies and practices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, and the United States, and Mr. Donnelly and Mauro De Lorenzo are studying security issues in Africa, forming a working group and pursuing ongoing dialogue targeted toward defining a strategy for the U.S. Africa Command, the newest regional combatant command.
Program on Advanced Strategic Studies
Since 9/11, the United States has adopted an ambitious grand security strategy that, to be successful, will require sufficient resources, effective institutions at home and alliances abroad, and policies that zero in on our adversaries’ weaknesses and use America’s competitive advantages. Resident Scholar Gary J. Schmitt leads a program that analyzes the long-term issues that will impact America’s security and its ability to lead internationally. The program publishes articles and op-eds and conducts regular conferences and seminars on topics including transatlantic relations, new security structures for addressing the “rise of China,” the role of “political warfare” in the war against Islamic extremism, and the impact of recent reforms to the U.S. intelligence community. In collaboration with Thomas Donnelly and Christopher Griffin, Mr. Schmitt recently completed a project to evaluate the structure and role of U.S. country teams within foreign embassies, and he recently published a report of the project's findings. Mr. Schmitt coedited with Mr. Donnelly Of Men and Materiel: The Crisis in Military Resources, published in February 2007.
Middle East Studies
AEI’s Middle East Studies Program examines the key political, economic, and social developments in the region and, more broadly, the prospects and challenges of democratic reform. Encompassing the work of John Bolton, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Joshua Muravchik, Danielle Pletka, Richard Perle, Michael Rubin, and AEI's two recent additions, Ali Alfoneh and Hassan Mneimneh, the program covers U.S. strategy in the Middle East and issues such as Islamic radicalism, democracy promotion, Iraqi reconstructions, Iran's nuclear intransigence, U.S.-Turkish relations, the stability of Pakistan, and the growth and influence of opposition groups throughout the area. In February, the AEI Press published Iranian Influence in the Levant, Iraq, and Afghanistan, in which Ms. Pletka, Mr. Kagan, and Kimberly Kagan (Institute For the Study of War) explain the danger of Iranian activism and American passivism. Additionally, Ms. Pletka has hosted several public conferences on Iran as part of AEI's "Iran Project," which provides in depth analysis of this increasingly dominant Middle Eastern country. Mr. Bolton's articles in the Wall Street Journal offer strategies for preventing a nuclear Iran, and Mr. Alfoneh has made Iran the focus of several recent AEI Middle Eastern Outlook (translated into Arabic, Farsi, or Turkish, depending on the topic). Mr. Muravchik continues his work on Lonely Voices: Democrats of the Middle East, which will be released by Encounter next year. Mr. Rubin is writing a book tentatively titled Talking to the Enemy: The Promise and Peril of Engagement, which will illuminate the costs, benefits, and complexities of engagement as a tool of statecraft. Ms. Hirsi Ali's extraordinary memoir, Infidel, was published in the United States in February 2007, and she is currently at work on her next book, Shortcut to Enlightenment.
Asian Studies
AEI’s Asian Studies Program includes the work of foreign policy and defense specialists Dan Blumenthal, John R. Bolton, Thomas Donnelly, Nicholas Eberstadt, Christopher Griffin, Gary J. Schmitt, and our scholar in Japanese studies, Michael Auslin, as well as economists Claude Barfield, Kevin A. Hassett, Philip I. Levy, and John H. Makin. The program addresses both immediate and long-term policy issues in the Asia-Pacific region, aiming to look beyond traditional questions and explore the prospects and uncertainties of the region. AEI's scholars work to identify systemic flaws in U.S.-Asia policy concerning security, trade, economic development, democratization, and human rights issues. Current research focuses on key issues facing the region, including the rise of China as an economic and political power; Taiwan's security agenda; Japan's military transformation; the threat of a nuclear North Korea; and the impact of regional alliances and rivalries on U.S. military and economic relationships in Asia. The program also publishes the periodic Asian Outlook; recent issues have addressed the need for trilateralism between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan; the policies of the United States and Japan toward a rapidly growing China, the role of human rights in America's approach to China, China’s containment of India, and the security of Taiwan. Mr. Schmitt is editing an essay collection entitled Rising China: Implications for Long-Term U.S. Policy, which will be published by Encounter in early 2009.
Latin American Studies
Roger F. Noriega studies the Western Hemisphere, the region with the fastest-growing trade partners for the United States and one that is critical to U.S. security and energy concerns. He writes AEI’s Latin American Outlook (published in English and in Spanish and circulated throughout the region) and conducts regular public and private sessions on key regional issues, including democracy and the rule of law, poverty, energy policy, free trade and foreign aid, and U.S.-Latin American relations. On September 18, Mr. Noriega hosted a conference titled "The Perils of Populism: Hot Spots in Latin America." A number of Latin American countries have recently moved to the political left, and have subsequently embraced policies to oppose the United States. Marisol Argueta, the foreign minister of El Salvador--a key regional ally of the United States--explained the pressures driving these countries and what the United States can do to reverse the trend. Mr. Noriega had also provided analysis of recent occurrences in Cuba. Last fall, he organized a private working group, bringing together democracy activists, economists, and private sector representatives to discuss future requirements of U.S.-Cuban relations. Mr. Noriega's March Outlook discusses this critical time in Cuba's history.
Russian Studies
After years of progress toward liberal democracy, capitalism, and international cooperation, Russia once again poses strategic challenges for the West as made evident by the recent Georgian conflict. In "What Is to Be Done?" an article in the Weekly Standard, Fred Kagan asserts that the United States did too little to help its Georgian ally. In an August 12 Wall Street Journal article, Mauro De Lorenzo and Gary J. Schmitt offer three steps the United States can take to stabilize Georgia and prevent future Russian aggression. These articles supplemented the conference hosted by Leon Aron and Mr. Kagan at the beginning of the conflict. In addition to providing insight on Russia's Agusut incursion, Mr. Araon analyzes Russia’s key social, political, and economic trends. He writes AEI’s quarterly Russian Outlook--his most recent edition examines how Russia's historical memory affects its contemporary behavior--and comments regularly on U.S.-Russian relations for international news and media outlets. His latest book, Russia's Revolution: Essays 1985-2006, published in April 2007, features a collection of his essays on recent developments in Russia. He is currently working on another book, Roads to the Temple: Ideas, Values, and Culture in the Making of a New Russia: 1987–2003, which will examine how publicly expressed visions of a just and moral society have inspired and shaped the revolt against the Soviet communist regime. The book will trace the origins and eventual triumph of the ideals of personal liberty, private property, democracy, and a limited state subjugated to civil society as the necessary conditions for a moral and prosperous life. Nicholas Eberstadt is examining the implications of Russia’s looming health and demographics crises.
Economic Development Studies
AEI’s research on international economic development comprises the work of nearly a dozen scholars, including Roger Bate, Charles W. Calomiris, Mauro De Lorenzo, Adam Lerrick, Philip I. Levy, Allan H. Meltzer, and Paul Wolfowitz, who joined AEI in July 2007 after his tenure as president of the World Bank. AEI's program seeks to monitor and assess the programs of U.S. and international economic development agencies, USAID, the World Bank, and regional development banks; to understand and improve the relationship of economic development policies to security and democracy-promotion policies; and to put forward original proposals for making the development agencies more effective and results-oriented. Mr. De Lorenzo is working on a project that seeks to discover what U.S. development policy would be like if it were focused on enhancing the business competitiveness of poor countries, rather than on funding and managing their social spending. Recent issues of AEI's quarterly Development Policy Outlook series, edited by Mr. De Lorenzo, include an essay on Chinese involvement in Latin America, by Megan Davy; the political economy of taxation applied to Africa, by Deborah Brautigam; and entrepreneurial philanthrophy in the developing world, by Mr. De Lorenzo and Apoorva Shah.
National Sovereignty and Global Governance
How the United States, Europe, and other regions in the world approach ventures in global governance has profound implications for national sovereignty and the strength of international institutions. Through publications and conferences, AEI analyzes the impact of global governance on politics, economic welfare, counterterrorism, and foreign policy interests. Comprising the work of Claude Barfield, Mauro De Lorenzo, Joshua Muravchik, and Visiting Scholar John Yoo, the program is concerned with such topics as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, terrorism and the laws of war, and the growing influence of formal and informal international law on domestic legislation. John R. Bolton, former U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, joined AEI in January 2007 as a senior fellow, further bolstering this already robust program of study. His New York Times bestselling book, Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad, published by Simon and Schuster in November 2007, provides a look at the United Nations and the international policy-making process. AEI and the Federalist Society have recently launched a joint project, Global Governance Watch (www.globalgovernancewatch.org), a web-based resource that addresses issues of transparency and accountability in the United Nations, NGOs, and related international organizations.
Other sections of AEI's current research highlights:
