Foreign Policy Research Institute A Nation Must Think Before it Acts Advice to the New President – Presenting the Winter 2017 Issue of Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs

A nation must think before it acts.

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Advice to the New President – Presenting the Winter 2017 Issue of Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs
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Advice to the New President – Presenting the Winter 2017 Issue of Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs

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Advice to the New President – Presenting the Winter 2017 Issue of Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs


Orbis Winter 2017Mac Owens is Editor of Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs, and Senior Fellow in our Program on National Security. Orbis is published for the Foreign Policy Research Institute by Elsevier. For subscription or other information, visit the Elsevier website. FPRI members at the $150 level or above receive a complimentary subscription (for individuals, not institutions). For membership information, please click here. To view this issue online, please click here. 

This special issue of Orbis features articles by FPRI associates offering “Advice to the New President.” Written before the election, these essays offer recommendations for national security affairs in general, as well as for regional issues.

Kori Schake leads things off by looking at the national security challenges that the next president will face, the most important of which is building a domestic consensus regarding America’s place in the world. Michael Clarke and Anthony Ricketts examine the role of U.S. strategic culture in shaping that consensus. Nick Gvosdev argues that the next president must shift the focal point of decision-making away from the national security bureaucracy and the Cabinet in favor of the “palace” of advisors and White House staff.

Ron Granieri suggests that the next president should pursue a course of realistic engagement that nonetheless recognizes the limits of American power. Next, Frank Hoffman offers advice about sizing and shaping the U.S. military. Wayne Schroeder looks at the role of the defense budget in support of U.S. military power.

Turning to regional issues, John Haines considers future U.S.-Russian issues. June Teufel Dreyer examines U.S. relations with China, and Toshi Yoshihara and James Holmes discuss how to confront China’s rising naval power. Sumit Ganguly then offers advice on U.S.-India relations and an approach to South Asia, while Jerome Kahan addresses U.S. options in response to an Iranian breakout from the nuclear deal with the United States. Finally, John Haines makes an encore discussing what a Trump defense policy might look like.

In our book review section, Evan D. McCormick reviews The Power of the Past: History and Statecraft, edited by Hal Brands and Jeremi Suri. Also, Yuval Weber reviews two books on the current state of the BRICs.