The Institute of World Politics is a graduate school of national security and international affairs, dedicated to developing leaders with a sound understanding of international realities and the ethical conduct of statecraft, based on knowledge and appreciation of the principles of the American political economy and the Western moral tradition.

Institute of World Politics

On Wednesday June 24, IWP welcomed Dr. Colin Dueck, an Associate Professor at George Mason University's School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs to discuss his newest book, entitled, The Obama Doctrine: American Grand Strategy Today. In his remarks, Dr. Dueck discussed what he believes to be the essence of President Barack Obama's grand strategy as it pertains to foreign policy and its repercussions in the sphere of international affairs.

Dr. Dueck began his discussion by addressing the Obama Doctrine in terms commonly heard in the outlets of contemporary media. Dueck noted that phrases such as, "leading from behind," and, "no real strategy" are now inevitably tied to the President's foreign policy legacy.

Identifying the terms "retrenchment" and "accommodation" as major factors informing Obama's foreign policy during the past six years, Dr. Dueck briefly discussed two critical cases in which Obama's leniency was not in line with U.S. national interests or those of her allies - the first being the case of "pushing the reset button" in US-Russian relations, and the second being the enacting of policies designed to accommodate Iran. This, along with the second aspect of the Obama Doctrine, has led to the declining approval ratings of the President's foreign policy.

President Obama, according to Dr. Dueck, is not a risk-taker at heart. In his remarks, Dr. Dueck stated that the President's international stance is a result of a focus based on domestic policies. President Obama's strategic international retrenchment was implemented so that he could keep himself and the American people focused on these domestic issues as well as to reduce the risk of accidentally sparking an international crisis. However, according to Dr. Dueck, this has had the opposite effect of what Obama had hoped for. ISIS is now a major threat to the U.S. at home and abroad, Russia is continuing to act aggressively against its neighbors, and Iran is not one to be trusted to honor the kind of "deal" that Obama's and Secretary of State John Kerry's team are trying to put together.

Dr. Dueck shared two major pieces of advice for the President to heed during his last years in office. The first suggestion was that Obama should have less retrenchment so that deterrence can be a tool for the U.S. to use again as it has in the past. Second, Obama should be less accommodating to his foreign enemies, and he should not be so concerned with provoking them.

The lecture was followed by a question and answer session that further discussed Dr. Dueck's ideas on the Obama Doctrine and American foreign policy.

-Robert Lee 

Video by Harrison Reiff

The Obama Doctrine: American Grand Strategy Today

On June 23, Paweł Styrna, IWP Class of 2015 and Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies research assistant, discussed the manner in which the post-Soviet Russian leadership views the world. 

he Kremlin sees the United States in particular, and the West and NATO in general, as deeply hostile forces having no greater objective than to encircle, dismember, and destroy Russia -- in collaboration with anti-Russian "Fifth Columnists" and "fascists" in the "near abroad." This is not solely the attitude of the Putin regime, however, but a geopolitical mentality formed over centuries of Russian history. In effect, the paranoid, anti-American post-Soviet "besieged Kremlin" attitude is a synthesis of Muscovite and Soviet Feindbilder ["images of the enemy"]. 

In his presentation, Mr. Styrna traces the historical roots of Moscow's Weltanschauung and explains why this understanding is highly relevant today.

Video by Harrison Reiff

The "Besieged Kremlin": Understanding Moscow's Worldview

On June 23, 2015, Alexei Sobchenko discussed "Ukraine: The Roots of the Current Crisis" at a lecture sponsored by the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics.

Video by Harrison Reiff

Ukraine: The Roots of the Current Crisis

On June 22, 2015, The Institute of World Politics welcomed Shankar A. Singham to discuss anti-competitive market distortions, the importance and potential impact of their reduction, and how we should implement such measures. In particular, he discussed his Competitiveness and Enterprise Cities Project, which deals with these issues.

Mr. Singham began by elaborating upon what is required for economic growth within a country or city. From his experience overseeing major transitions such as the privatization of the UK electricity industry and EU accessions in the former Soviet Union, he cites three key forces as being: open trade, competitive markets, and property rights protection. In relation to these forces, he identified three fundamental laws: wealth can be created or destroyed, wealth is much easier to destroy than create, and competition is the most powerful force for wealth creation. Based on these ideas, he noted that trade barrier restrictions present obstacles to growth.

He gave a brief history of the global trade agenda, beginning with the Uruguay Round and then discussing the difficulties associated with the technically ongoing Doha Round.  As a result of mercantilist agendas preventing successful trade talk conclusions, anti-competitive market distortions have been allowed to proliferate. Privatization has increased post 1990, but competition agencies have failed to adequately prevent distortions, unfairly skewing the playing field for domestic businesses.

However, because nationwide reform faces a number of difficulties -- such as countering "crony capitalism" -- which make success practically impossible, Mr. Singham advocates for the creation of "enterprise cities" in key areas. These "e-cities" would model existing growth engines, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and Dubai, by removing restrictions to open trade, property rights protection, and merit-based competition. Economic growth and stability are key components of national security, and even partial reform has the potential to make a significant difference. The models on which Mr. Singham's work is based have shown that only a handful of countries are "not particularly distorted," and that even small distortion reductions can make a large impact in eliminating severe poverty. The creation of "e-cities" allows us to address both the problems of mass migration and urbanization while simultaneously reducing trade distortions to promote national security and support anti-poverty efforts.

Mr. Singham concluded his presentation by saying that "We are very optimistic about the world, because there is so much gain possible." While there are very serious problems, and serious consequences to failure, there are still places to go and solutions possible which inspire hope for success.  

An extensive question and answer session allowed Mr. Singham to go into further depth concerning multiple aspects of his presentation. Questions addressed cronyism, the potential problem of pensions and competition in the financial service sector, the problem of creative destruction, problems with investor trust issues and how to resolve them, and the question of assuming establishment of rule of law in developing areas.

Mr. Singham serves as the Director of the Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project at Babson Global, and has a history of extensive experience in international trade law. He is a Non-Governmental advisor to the International Competition Network and a cleared advisor to the United States Trade Representative and Department of Commerce, as well as to several political candidates.  He has authored multiple books and papers, among them Enhancing welfare by attacking anticompetitive market distortions and Freeing the Global Market, How to Boost the Economy by Curbing Regulatory Distortions which are related to his IWP presentation.

More of Mr. Singham's work can be found at www.enterprisecities.com.

Heather Thompson

Alleviating Poverty by Freeing the World of Economic Distortions

On June 18, Mr. Tanel Sepp, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Estonian Embassy in Washington, D.C., delivered a lecture titled "Estonia as a Digital Society: From Ideas to Reality." The lecture focused on how Estonia has become a leader in the areas of cybersecurity and digitalization. 

Mr. Sepp began with a brief overview of Estonia's digital history. Regaining independence in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union, the creation of Estonia was like "building a country from scratch." In 1996, the Tiger Leap Foundation was created to support the teaching of ICT in schools as well as to create public internet access points all over Estonia. Since then, internet usage in the country has grown rapidly. Today, the World Economic Forum 2015 Report ranked Estonia as #2 globally in terms of accessibility to the internet. Approximately 98% of Estonia's transactions are conducted through the Internet.

Estonia became the world's first paperless government in 2001 and held its first online elections in 2005. Government-issued personal ID cards, first issued in January 2002, have presented a major transformation for Estonians: out of a population of 1.3 million, 1.2 million active ID cards exist. These cards contain a SIM card-like chip and can be used for functions ranging from providing personal medical records to filing tax returns. In fact, in 2013, over 95% of income tax declarations were done online.

The 2007 cyberattack carried out by Russia against Estonia took place in two phases, said Mr. Sepp, with the second phase, the main part of the attack, lasting almost three weeks. The attacks, using large botnets, were sophisticated and well-coordinated. The Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks targeted critical national information infrastructure such as governmental internet-based communications and government websites. The attacks also signaled significant economic loss for the private sector. Calling the attacks "disruptive not destructive," Mr. Sepp said data was not stolen and the attack was actually positive for Estonia, as it made the country as a whole focus on cybersecurity and defense issues. As a result of the attack, the government and non-governmental entities worked together to improve Estonia's cybersecurity.

One of the lecture's goals was to illustrate that the 2007 attack was not the beginning of the Estonian government's and peoples' attention to digitalization. The incorporation of the digital into people's lives has been regarded as so successful in this country because of the general consensus among the main forces of society, political elites' commitment to its spread, the appropriate mix of public and private initiative, and the active role of the government. Although another factor in Estonia's success as a digital society is that it had little baggage of previous practices and thus could begin anew when it gained independence, Mr. Sepp maintains this country can be used as a positive example of success in this area for others, including the United States.

Mr. Sepp currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Estonian Embassy in Washington, D.C. He has formerly served as the South-Asia Counselor for the 3rd Political Department at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chargé d'Affaires for the Special Mission of Estonia to Afghanistan, and the Second Secretary for Civilian Crisis Management for the Permanent Delegation of Estonia to the EU. He holds a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from the Audentes University (currently Tallinn Technical University) and a B.A. from EuroUniversity, Tallinn.

-Basia Armstrong

Estonia as a Digital Society: From Ideas to Reality

Professor Douglas Streusand discusses his course Islam in Contemporary Global Politics (IWP 645). 

Dr. Streusand is the author of "Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals" and has taught at Marine Corps Command & Staff College, American Military University, and University of Maryland.

Video by Harrison Reiff

Islam in Contemporary Global Politics (IWP 645)

On June 10, The Institute of World Politics welcomed Andres Kütt, Head Software Architect, and Liina Areng, Head of International Relations, both of the Estonian Information System Authority to speak on the state of cyber security globally, as well as their country’s pioneering transition to electronic governance. Mr. Kütt and Ms. Areng generously offered their time and expertise to inform the IWP community about the importance of a rapidly changing cyber landscape. 

Mr. Kütt told the audience how there is a constant war being waged between the governments, corporations, and organizations that secure private data and the rogue criminal hackers who seek to steal it from their databases. In reality, he said, there is not a guaranteed method of securing online data in this modern era. Rather, there are differing levels of coding sophistication and mathematical formulas by which cryptographers and cyber attackers engage in their web-based warfare. 

Mr. Kütt explained how, essentially, this worldwide data conflict is driven by secure codes and encryptions that protect data and the efforts by rogue states or actors to disrupt them. Time, he says, is the worst enemy of cryptographers, as their electronic battlements are constantly under siege. The most effective way to mitigate the risk of cyber attack, he noted, is to hire the most talented pool of cyber defenders. 

Mr. Kütt and Ms. Areng informed the audience that governments are at the forefront of the cyber challenges that face the 21st century. The Republic of Estonia in particular has been a global leader in so-called “E-governance,” transforming their Baltic nation of 1.3 million into a cyber powerhouse. Estonia, they report, has been highly successful in its endeavor to render the services and obligations of government into electronic models. For example, Estonia is the only one of its kind in the world to have institutionalized E-voting in national elections. This kind of groundbreaking civic engagement, the speakers emphasized, is dependent on a high degree of trust in its accuracy and incorruptibility. 

Mr. Kütt and Ms. Areng explained how the Estonian government relies on its advanced corps of citizen-cryptographers. The Cyber Defense League was established in 2010 as a response to the unprecedented cyber attacks on the country years earlier. This organization of volunteer cryptographers serves the national cyber defense by donating their talents in service to Estonia. 

Mr. Kütt and Ms. Areng went on to explain the interconnectedness of the digital ecosystems that populate the Internet. What affects one facet of the web is sure to translate into tangible consequences for the other. Further, the immense difficulty in identifying the origins of a cyber attack means that a coherent, reliable encryption is increasingly the only viable avenue of defense. 

-Patrick Gallagher

Cryptography and Trust: Estonia and the Modern Information Society

On June 9, The Institute of World Politics welcomed author Dr. Daniel D. Leger for a discussion of his book Reality Check: Neoconservatism, Realism and the Battle for How the World Really Is. He discussed the basis of neoconservatism in contrast to the moral relativism of modern political theory. 

He began his talk with a description of neoconservative ideology. Neoconservatives, he noted, are not ashamed to associate moral correctness with the United States' foreign policy goals. They often eschew intellectual abstractions, look for common sense in political investment, are distanced philosophically from moral relativism, and are opportunistic in their frontal assaults on policy. They differ from modern realists in that they do not focus as much on the material motivations of states and do not have as much appreciation for the moral issues involved with intervention in foreign policy.

A focus of Dr. Leger’s talk was the neoconservative stance in the arms control debate, beginning with the hard line approach they took towards the Soviet Union. Neoconservatives worked to discredit the theory of mutual assured destruction and the larger theory of détente as a whole. They worked from a strategic framework differing from that of Kissinger and Nixon, attacking the fallacy of mirror imaging. An arms control solution required recognition of the ultimate political goal of avoiding nuclear disaster. As such examples reiterated, neoconservatism finds moral relativism to be perverse. Common sense should dictate, and yet in the 20th Century common sense requires an explanation. 

Dr. Leger moved on to discuss neoconservatism within the context of the ideas of Leo Strauss, Hans Morgenthau, and then more generally neopositivism. He noted that, if the goal is a hope for peace, the challenge is to allow the most useful theory to gain popular credence so that it becomes operative. This has historically been done through propaganda. Neoconservative and neopositivist ideas, which are often mired in academic jargon, should be conveyed using common sense and logic so that they appeal to the larger public.  

Following his talk, Dr. Leger fielded a number of questions concerning the evolution of neoconservatism over time, as well as Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush’s roles in the theories behind the invasion of Iraq. 

Dr. Leger holds a B.A. in Political Science, a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy and International Relations from the University of Notre Dame, and is presently the Head of Strategic Planning and Client Services for Akre Capital Management. Prior to that, he held business development and senior asset raising roles with a variety of companies, including BRI Partners, Ore Hill Partners, Steel partners, and Geosphere Capital Management. 

Dr. Leger’s book Reality Check: Neoconservatism, Realism and the Battle for How the World Really Is is available at http://amzn.to/1FYza11.

Reality Check: Neoconservatism, Realism and the Battle for How the World Really Is

This panel discussion featured practitioners in humanitarian affairs who commented on realistic, on-the-ground solutions to the Syrian refugee crisis.  

Albert Santoli, professor at The Institute of World Politics and founder and president of Asia America Initiative, moderated the panel.  Other panelists were Dr. Michael Dziedzic, Colonel, (ret.), who is a Fellow at the World Engagement Institute and editor of "Overlooked Enemies of Peace: Subduing Criminalized Power Structures," and David Weiss, President & CEO of Global Communities.

This presentation is part of an event entitled "Beyond Crisis Management in the Middle East: Peace and Stability in the Post 2015 Development Framework" which was held at The Institute of World Politics on May 21, 2015.

The event was co-sponsored by the United Nations Association of the National Capital Region, IWP, Global Communities, and the Alliance for Peacebuilding.

Beyond Crisis Management in the Middle East: Seeing Solutions on the Ground

John Lenczowksi, Founder and President of The Institute of World Politics, gave remarks at the IWP Commencement Ceremony on May 16, 2015.

Video by Adam Savit, Center for Security Policy

Commencement Remarks by IWP President John Lenczowski, 2015

Experts from the Institute for World Politics are available to comment on the recent Kurdish offensive on ISIS held Tal Abyad in Northern Syria 

Source:  

Experts Available to Comment on Kurdish Offensive on ISIS

Source:

Sebastian Gorka

John Lenczowski