Mission

Founded in 1955, FPRI is a non-profit organization devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests. We add perspective to events by fitting them into the larger historical and cultural context of international politics.

Who We Are

The 82 affiliated scholars of FPRI include a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, a former president of Swarthmore College, a Bancroft Prize-winning historian, and a former Ambassador and senior staff member of the National Security Council. We count among our trustees a former Undersecretary of Defense, a former Secretary of the Navy, a former Assistant Secretary of State, a foundation president, and numerous active or retired corporate CEOs, lawyers, and civic leaders. Our Inter-University Study Groups and our larger network of scholars include representatives of diverse disciplines, including political science, history, economics, law, management, religion, sociology, and psychology.

What We Do

We conduct research on pressing issues— the war on terrorism, developments in the Middle East, nuclear proliferation, relations with China, Russia, and Japan— and long-term questions, such as the roles of religion and ethnicity in international politics, or the nature of Western identity and its implications for the U.S. and the Atlantic Alliance.

We publish a quarterly journal, Orbis, and a series of bulletins, both of which draw on the research findings of our scholars, our Inter-University Study Groups, our conferences, and our seminars.

And, through our Wachman Center and through our History Institute, we educate the public and “teach the teachers.” In this way, we serve the community and the nation, the policymakers and the educators.