Foreign Policy Research Institute

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The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) is a think tank founded by Robert Strausz-Hupé in 1955. The FPRI's describes itself as "devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests". [1] It has at its nexus a strong foundation based at The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Introduction

The FPRI's membership includes "a former aide to three U.S. secretaries of state, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, a former president of Swarthmore College and a Bancroft Prize-winning historian, and two former staff members of the National Security Council. We count among our trustees a former Secretary of State and a former Secretary of the Navy (and among our former trustees and interns two current Undersecretaries of Defense), not to mention two university presidents emeritus, a foundation president, and several active or retired corporate CEOs," it ststes on its website. [2]

The FPRI Publishes a quarterly journal titled Orbis [3] currently edited by Mackubin Owens, along with several different bulletins transmitted directly via email to approximately 18,000 key people in 85 countries.

The FPRI's claim of independence should not be mistaken for non-partisan, nor should their deep roots within higher education imply an intent of a simple advisory role. In a speech given at the Heritage Foundation on June 5, 1991, former FPRI member Daniel Pipes stated that the FPRI is an activist organization driven by its own ideology:

"Put most baldly, we have always advocated an activist U.S. foreign policy; we have shared an abiding suspicion of the Soviet Union and other Communist states; and we have always maintained a strong interest in the promotion of democracy, free-enterprise, and the rule of law. Perhaps most controversially, the professional staff is not shy about the use of force; were we members of Congress in January 1991, all of us would not only have voted with President Bush and Operation Desert Storm, we would have led the charge." [4]

FPRI's Board Members

As of April 2007 FPRI's Board members were:

Personnel

Program Organization

The FPRI is an ends focused think tank. They are not a just another grouping of theoreticians cogitating what ifs as they contemplate models from their armchairs. The FPRI openly strives to be activist, and sometimes even wrap descriptions of their activist intents with wordage that imples reverence. One of the FPRI's oft repeated mantras is that they are:

"devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests.""[1],[2],

The Institue's members also view their roles not first and foremost as researchers, but more along the lines of a practising engineer. They are willing to get their hands duty fulfilling their goals, one of which is to

"shape the national debate on foreign policy through frequent appearances in the national news media."[3]

These are often the same goals other think tanks share, the difference here being the FPRI's organization of proactive programs to facilitate the stated goals of influencing the government. They do not just sit back on their papers at the door to the leislature until called to testify, they engage.

Their organizational programs are divided into two main categories; research and educational.

Research Programs

Since the FPRI is intent on maintaining active role in the shaping of policy, both domestic and international, their research programs' fields of are dynamic. Currently, The main programs are:

The Asia Program

  • Co Director Jacques deLisle is a Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School.
  • Co Director Avery Goldstein is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Center on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, and Homeland Security

  • Co-Chairman Michael Radu; Columbia University Ph. D., formerly a Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, and has held many government positions.
  • Co-Chairman Stephen Gale; University of Michigan; BA, MS, and Ph. D.; is a member of the University of Pennsylvania's faculty in the Departments of Political Science and of Reginal Science. Dr. Gale has previously been a faculty member at UC, Berkeley, Northwestern University and Columbia University.

Center for the Study of America and the West

  • Co Chairman Walter A. McDougall is a Professor of History at University of Pennsylvania, and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He received his Ph D. from University of Chicago and was previously a Professor at UC, Berkeley.

Ethnic Conflict Program

  • Director Foulie Psalidas-Perlmutter, the University of Athens Ph.D. is a faculty member at the Graduate Center for Organizational Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania

Middle East Program

  • -

Program on National Security

Project on Democratic Transitions

"Launched in 2005 under the direction of Ambassador Adrian Basora, the Project on Democratic Transitions (PDT) examines the dramatic political-economic transformation of post-communist Europe and Eurasia since 1989 through a wide-angle lens." [5]

South Asia

  • -

Think Tanks and Civil Societies

  • Director Dr. James McGann; MS and Ph D, University of Pennsylvania; MS, Temple University. Currently he is President and founding Partner of McGann Associates, a think tank consulting firm.

Center on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, and Homeland Security

  • Executive Director Gregory Montanaro received his BA and MS from the University of Pennsylvania .
  • Deputy Director William J. Malampy attended Drexel University, BA, and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia MS, MSE, M.Phil.

Educational Programs

Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education

Provides studies for High School teachers to improve their "international and civic literacy".

History Academy

Takes the Wachman Fund even farther and provides weekend seminars for High School teachers.

Contact Information

Foreign Policy Research Institute
1528 Walnut St, Ste 610
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Phone: 215-732-3774
Fax: 215-732-4401
Email: fpri AT fpri.org
Website: http://www.fpri.org/

References

  1. ↑ "About FPRI", accessed May 2007.
  2. ↑ "About FPRI", accessed May 2007.
  3. ↑ "ORBIS: A Journal of World Affairs", accessed May 2007.
  4. ↑ Daniel Pipes, "From a Distance: Influencing Foreign Policy from Philadelphia", The Heritage Lectures, Heritage Foundation, June 5, 1991.
  5. ↑ Project on Democratic Transitions, Foreign Policy Research Institute, accessed June 13, 2008.
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