Foreign Policy

“For most missions we have today,” argued Benjamin Friedman, “we have more than enough nukes.” Friedman, a research fellow in defense and homeland security studies at the Cato Institute, was speaking to a crowd at Stand Together Trust’s Nuclear Modernization: The Future of Deterrence event in Washington, DC, on April 26. Friedman was joined by […]

“Perpetuating the War for the Greater Middle East is not enhancing American freedom, abundance, and security,” argues Andrew Bacevich in his newest book, America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History. “If anything,” he continues, “it is having the opposite effect.” This is far from a noncontroversial statement. So what does Bacevich mean? […]

Modern free trade agreements are an increasingly complex mix of competing priorities. Among the topics they address are environmental standards, labor protections, intellectual property rights, and dispute resolutions—not to mention the relaxation of trade barriers. Due to the scope of these agreements, it is all but assured that everyone can find something to dislike and […]

Realism, according to John Mearsheimer, is “a perspective on international politics that states that the basic goal … is to survive.” As a result, states compete to be “the biggest and ‘baddest’ dude on the block.” A working knowledge of realism can be a key tool to understanding and evaluating international politics and American foreign […]

Stand Together Trust was a proud sponsor of the 2016 International Students for Liberty Conference last month, a gathering of pro-liberty students and young professionals from around the world who were eager to learn about and discuss the ideas of liberty and free societies. The Institute hosted several sessions, the first of which was a […]

“In Washington, the conversation is really between the 48 yard lines when it comes to foreign policy,” declared William Ruger, vice president of research at Stand Together Trust. “What we want to do is broaden that perspective and talk about some different ideas than you’re used to hearing perhaps in Washington or in the mainstream […]

This week former senator Tom Coburn and William Ruger, vice president of research and policy at Stand Together Trust discussed how the Department of Defense can responsibly curb spending without jeopardizing national security in an op-ed for USA Today. As they write: “Yet as long as we keep talking about adding to the budget without first asking […]

Why do the American people have the foreign policy views they do? What do their views appear to suggest for future policy? These were both issues tackled during Stand Together Trust’s event on Tuesday, September 22 on Capitol Hill. The discussion panel, entitled “The Politics of American Foreign Policy” featured Michael Desch, professor of political […]

Tomorrow, September 22, marks the one-year anniversary of the first U.S. airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria. The strikes were launched against ISIS’ unofficial capital of Raqqa and involved both cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs. The targets included various types of military equipment, training areas, military transportation, and command-and-control facilities. The New York Times called […]

Understanding the unique preferences of millennials has become something of an obsession for the media, social scientists, the government, parents, and even millennials themselves. On any given day, news stories feature headlines like “Millennials Are Annoyed When Your Grammar’s Not on Fleek” and “How to Win The Millennials With Paid Vacations.” Other recent articles have examined […]