Abstract

Sixty-five years ago, FPRI’s founder and president Robert Strausz-Hupé inaugurated Orbis journal with an essay, “The Balance of Tomorrow,” in which he expressed hope for a future that would “belong to America” with its spirit of an open society—“open to all men and all cultures”—and a world that would not be led by those states that have “nothing to offer mankind but a putrefying ideology and brute force.” Strausz-Hupé’s optimism and hope for American global leadership appeared to be realized—at least momentarily— during the waning days of the twentieth century with the Soviet Union’s collapse and the emergence of new democracies not only in Eastern Europe, but around the globe. Shortly into the new century, however, the peace dividend of the 1990s developed fissures, giving way to an America convulsing from a deadly terrorist attack on its homeland. In addition, a newly aggressive, strong man-led Russia was emerging that would threaten its neighbors and more distant adversaries—not only with its massive and nuclear equipped military, but also with sophisticated cyber-attacks and high-tech covert influence operations.

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