Quincy Institute

The Quincy Institute was launched in December of 2019 to combat the Washington consensus for war and militarism. Since then, our team has been at the forefront of reorienting U.S. foreign policy towards engagement, diplomacy, and peaceful coexistence. As 2023 comes to a close, please consider supporting the Quincy Institute and help us achieve a world where peace is the norm and war the exception. DONATE: https://lnkd.in/gUcQm6Wf LEARN MORE: https://lnkd.in/gYyK6UAw

Will Biden’s Saudi Security Pact Spark a Nuclear Arms Race? The Biden administration is reportedly close to finalizing a controversial security agreement with the Saudi kingdom. Beyond a contractual obligation to defend Saudi Arabia with American troops, the agreement also offers Riyadh American assistance in developing the nuclear fuel cycle. This would grant the Saudis access to sensitive enrichment technology, which critics argue would put the kingdom on the brink of acquiring nuclear arms. Given Washington’s long-standing policy of restricting the spread of enrichment technologies, Biden’s proposed deal is raising concerns in the global non-proliferation community. What are the non-proliferation implications of the Saudi security pact? Given Saudi Arabia’s past expressed interest in developing nuclear weapons, can the deal guarantee that Riyadh won’t militarize its program down the road? Given the near-collapse of the Iran nuclear deal…

Book Talk: The Sources of Russian Aggression Russia’s goals and intentions as an international actor have long been the subject of contentious expert debate. The 2022 invasion of Ukraine lent a renewed significance and sense of urgency to analyses of Russian aggression, spawning a host of pressing questions for scholars and policymakers alike. To what degree should Russia be seen as a revisionist power? What exactly are its geopolitical motivations toward the west and how far is it willing to go to achieve its ends? Is Moscow’s ongoing confrontation with NATO best characterized as a clash between incompatible ideologies, or should we look to deeper structural factors to explain Russian behavior? To discuss the forces driving Russian foreign policy and what they can tell us about the workings of the international system, Kelley Vlahos, Senior Advisor at the Quincy Institute and Editorial Director of Responsible Statecraft, and Ma…

Book Talk: The Sources of Russian Aggression Russia’s goals and intentions as an international actor have long been the subject of contentious expert debate. The 2022 invasion of Ukraine lent a renewed significance and sense of urgency to analyses of Russian aggression, spawning a host of pressing questions for scholars and policymakers alike. To what degree should Russia be seen as a revisionist power? What exactly are its geopolitical motivations toward the west and how far is it willing to go to achieve its ends? Is Moscow’s ongoing confrontation with NATO best characterized as a clash between incompatible ideologies, or should we look to deeper structural factors to explain Russian behavior? To discuss the forces driving Russian foreign policy and what they can tell us about the workings of the international system, Kelley Vlahos, Senior Advisor at the Quincy Institute and Editorial Director of Responsible Statecraft, and Ma…

A Historic Election in South Africa: Implications for Its Foreign and Ec… In South Africa's parliamentary elections held recently, the African National Congress (ANC) lost its majority in the national parliament for the first time since rising to power following apartheid in 1994. As a result, the ANC is forced to form a coalition government with rival parties for the first time in its history. Join us to discuss how a new coalition government might impact South Africa's foreign policy and its outward-facing economic policies post-election, including its views toward the ongoing great power rivalry involving the US, China, and Russia, its international legal challenge to the war in Gaza, and US-South Africa bilateral ties. Participating in this discussion will be Ziyanda Stuurman, Senior Analyst for southern Africa at the Eurasia Group, and Dr. Kingsley Makhubela, a former South African ambassador. Sarang Shidore, Global South Program Director at the Quincy I…

The Ukraine “Peace Summit” The Ukraine “Peace Summit” in Switzerland on June 15th and 16th is taking place in the absence of Russia (not invited), as well as China and other key countries. The ten-point “peace plan” put forward by the Ukrainian government is generally regarded by experts as standing no chance of success. Nonetheless, Western governments hope that the summit will help to rally international support and sympathy for Ukraine. To assess the outcomes of the meeting, join John Mearsheimer, QI Non-Resident Fellow and R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, Anne Kraatz, QI Non-Resident Fellow, and Daniel Larison, contributing editor at Antiwar.com. Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute, will moderate. The conversation will take place on Tuesday, June 18th from 12:00 - 1:00 PM ET.

Iraq and the United States: Return to the Status Quo or Calm Before the … Ten days after the Hamas attack on October 7th and the start of Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza, Iran-aligned militias in Iraq resumed attacking U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria following a long period of inactivity. The January 28th deaths of three U.S. Army reservists at Tower 22, a base in Jordan supporting the U.S. mission in Syria, from a drone attack by an Iran-aligned militia in Iraq, highlights the risks faced by U.S. troops in the region. Facing domestic backlash, the Biden administration retaliated with strikes on militia facilities in Iraq and Syria. Critics argued these strikes failed to restore deterrence since they were preannounced to avoid Iranian casualties. But attacks ceased afterward, leaving the future in question. In mid-April, the Iraqi Prime Minister and U.S. Secretary of Defense discussed ongoing security cooperation and the future of the Global Coalition to Defea…

❗ The Quincy Institute and Jon Stewart take on "Military Industrial Complexity" The US is blowing money on weapons that simply don't work. Take, for example, the largely unusable F-35 warplane. The almost $2 trillion dollar aircraft can only get in the air about 50% of the time, and yet the military continues to pump tax dollars into the clearly defunt project. In a recent conversation with the Daily Show's Jon Stewart Quincy's very own William Hartung succintly summarized the problem: "I think I would like the government to worry about our lifetimes, not the lifetime of this dysfunctional airplane." Listen to the episode here: https://lnkd.in/gv787vMg

Book Talk - A Misfit in Moscow: How British Diplomacy in Russia Failed: … One of the most tragic stories of recent years has been the failure of diplomacy to avert the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The reasons for this failure involve ample blame for all the parties involved. Britain, both as the closest US ally in Western Europe and the one that has taken the hardest line against Russia before and during the Ukraine War, has a special place in this story. To discuss the record of recent British diplomacy towards Russia and in the world more generally, Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute, is joined by Ian Proud, former British diplomat in Moscow and author of the memoir A Misfit in Moscow (2023). The conversation will take place on Thursday, June 13th from 12:00 - 1:00 PM EST.

The Results of the European Elections and Their Implications for Europea… The European parliamentary elections, due on June 6th-9th, are widely expected to see sweeping gains for right-wing populist parties. If this does prove to be the case, it will have very serious implications both for the domestic policies of the EU and – less certainly – future European policies towards the Ukraine War and Transatlantic relations. To discuss theses issues, join Molly O’Neal, QI non-resident fellow and former U.S. Foreign Service Officer, Wolfgang Streeck, Emeritus Director at the Max Planck Institute for Study of Societies, Cologne, and Matthias Matthijs, Dean Acheson Chair at SAIS. Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia program at the Quincy Institute, will moderate. The conversation will take place on Tuesday, June 11th from 12:00 – 1:00 PM Eastern.