Post Archives

The United States’ security strategy in the Indo-Pacific needs a course correction. In the past five years, China has built artificial islands to extend its sea claims and set a timeline for readiness to take over Taiwan. This revisionism threatens vital trade routes, resources, and alliances that everyday Americans depend on. While United States military prowess plays a vital role in preserving United States national interests in the region, the current strategy underutilizes our exceptional mechanisms of statecraft. This paper proposes a new strategy, one which fully engages all of the diplomatic tools at hand to further U.S. interests in…

Foreign malign actors, specifically Russia, China, and Iran, are engaged in sustained efforts to harm the American information environment. By disseminating disinformation (defined as false, inaccurate, or misleading information intended to cause harm to a person, social group, organization, or state), these actors are increasingly able to deepen polarization and erode trust in democratic institutions in the United States. Social media platforms further intensify these dynamics, as they are designed to amplify emotionally charged or polarizing content, allowing false or misleading information to circulate more rapidly and widely than accurate reporting. Together, these core drivers contribute to the erosion of…

Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States faces a strategic impasse. The Trump administration entered office with clear objectives: conclude the war rapidly, transfer greater responsibility for European security to U.S. allies, and reorient American strategic focus toward the Indo-Pacific. Despite sustained diplomatic engagement and repeated attempts to broker a settlement, negotiations have produced no meaningful progress. This outcome reflects not a failure of diplomatic process but a deeper structural problem in the current approach to the conflict. The central challenge is not a deficit of engagement but a deficit of leverage. Under current conditions, neither…

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have grown into significant middle powers over the past decades. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) nimbly exercise strategic autonomy through economic might, careful multi-alignment, credible self-defense strategic assets, and constructive diplomacy on the world stage. What can be called “the Khaleeji social contract,” a traditional yet dynamic social code through which the Gulf’s ruling families have invested in their people, has been instrumental in the rise of the Arab Gulf states. Now, as the age of fossil fuels declines and oil revenues gradually disappear, they are each…

The United States has led the multilateral system for 80 years. While its engagement should not diminish, it is time for the United States to advance bold reforms to overcome the dysfunction in central parts of the multilateral system. The multilateral system, and the contributions the United States makes to it, must make America stronger, safer, and more prosperous. In a world marked by intensifying global challenges, such as migration, transnational crime, or artificial intelligence, the current multilateral regime is neither appropriately responsive nor sufficiently aligned with U.S. interests. However, this report argues that multilateralism done right can be a…

The United States is entering a period of escalating great power competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). China poses a unique challenge due to its rapid accumulation of military, economic, and development power worldwide. Competition with China will rely far more on economic tools, especially development finance, trade, investment, and digital technologies. This report examines how the Trump administration should leverage new and existing policies to ensure U.S. success in the Indo-Pacific, while safeguarding domestic interests. It recommends that the administration adopt a comprehensive national security strategy focused on economic policy across four pillars: (1) supply chain integrity,…

Illiberalism is on the rise in the Americas. The region, once a bastion of post-Cold War democracy with countries like Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay forging strong liberal institutions after overthrowing dictators, is experiencing a period of democratic backsliding. Recent developments include growing corruption and the democratic election of strongmen, coupled with deteriorations in the rule of law and institutions in countries such as Venezuela, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. There are interlacing causes behind the trend, including high rates of violent crime, economic discontent, and the subsequent rise of populist leaders who promise solutions to these problems. The rise of illiberalism…

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is more economically powerful, militarily capable, and politically connected than at any time in the past, and its growing national power increasingly poses a threat to U.S. and Western interests in the Indo-Pacific. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which frequently draws upon historical global oppression of China—like the Century of Humiliation—to stir up nationalist fervor, is bent on achieving “national rejuvenation” by the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the PRC in 2049. Though “national rejuvenation” lacks a formal definition, experts understand it to mean the development of an integrated military, economic, and political…

The Western Hemisphere influences the prosperity of the United States (U.S.) more directly than any other region in the world. As a result, U.S. policies are designed to promote a secure, middle-class, and democratic landscape within Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). However, the erosion of democratic norms and the emergence of illiberal states in LAC threaten regional stability, economic growth, and the integrity of the international rules-based order. This trend is further exacerbated by transnational crime, climate change, rising inequalities, strategic competition, populism, and institutional degradation. To counteract democratic backsliding, this paper examines past U.S. initiatives aimed at fostering…

Since the early 2000s, the governments of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Qatar have become increasingly important actors in the humanitarian system. KSA, the UAE, and Kuwait have each regularly been among the top ten donors in the world and provided a majority of assistance in several major crises. While Qatar has provided less overall assistance, it is one of the most generous governments when measured as a percentage of gross national income. In addition to their generosity, the wealthiest Gulf states have played leading roles in building Islamic assistance mechanisms while taking greater interest…