The Hoover Institution today released Pragmatic Engagement Amidst Global Uncertainty: Three Major Challenges, a national security strategy written by the Hoover Institution’s Working Group on Foreign Policy and Grand Strategy.
While the United States continues to face unprecedented foreign policy challenges, there has been no consensus on a strategy to address specific problems. Thus, this bipartisan group of Hoover Institution and Stanford University scholars was convened to assess current threats and outline guiding principles for a smart national security strategy.
“We are living in a world of uncertainty and anxiety when it comes to foreign policy,” said co-author Amy Zegart, Hoover Institution senior fellow and Center for International Security and Cooperation co-director. “While presidential campaigns may be polarized when it comes to issues of national security, Americans are unified in their desire to make our country strong and secure. This strategy serves as a foreign policy road map in hopes that the United States will become the leader in a more peaceful world.”
The working group’s findings focus on three orienting principles: The first is that the United States should be unapologetic about its pursuit of our economic and security interests and more tempered in the pursuit of ideals. Second, the United States should leverage existing strengths by nurturing alliances and adapting institutions that have formed the cornerstone of the international order for seven decades. This includes standing by NATO against Russia, bolstering networks in the Asia Pacific, and modernizing governance structures such as the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations. Third, the United States must develop flexible unilateral capabilities that can be deployed against varied threats. This begins with establishing a strategic energy policy and drawing more attention to counter-messaging.
“Our leaders appear to be distracted by the day-to-day headlines, allowing for more pressing foreign policy challenges to fester and grow,” said co-author Stephen D. Krasner, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. “In this complex threat environment, reactive and ad hoc measures are not adequate. We need a strategy that makes clear what we stand for, what our goals are, and what capabilities we need to achieve them.”
The Hoover Institution's Working Group on Foreign Policy and Grand Strategy is a bipartisan group of Hoover Institution and Stanford University scholars who for the past two years have sought to better understand the challenges facing our nation and develop orienting principles to better serve America's interests.
Edited by: Stephen D. Krasner, the Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations at Stanford and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Hoover Institution and Amy Zegart, the Davies Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and co-director of the Center for International Security at Cooperation.
With the Assistance of: Karl W. Eikenberry, the William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and distinguished fellow with the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University; James D. Fearon, the Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, professor of political science, and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Francis Fukuyama, the Oliver Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; David M. Kennedy, the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus, at Stanford; Abraham D. Sofaer, the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Hoover Institution.
About the Hoover Institution: The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, is a public policy research center devoted to the advanced study of economics, politics, history, and political economy—both domestic and foreign—as well as international affairs. With its eminent scholars and world-renowned Library & Archives, the Hoover Institution seeks to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity and secure and safeguard peace for America and all mankind.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Jenny Mayfield | Office of Public Affairs | Hoover Institution | jennymayfield@stanford.edu | 650-723-0603
