Principled Conservatism in America's Foreign Affairs and National Security Policy
Dr. Christopher Ford • July 15, 2021
On July 2, 2021, Dr. Ford published a paper on "Principled Conservatism in America's Foreign Affairs and National Security Policy" with the National Security Institute (NSI) at the George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School. The full paper can be found here from NSI, or it may be downloaded through the button below.
July 2, 2021
National Security Institute Publishes New Paper:
“Principled Conservatism in America’s Foreign Affairs and National Security Policy”
Arlington, VA – Today, the National Security Institute (NSI) at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School published its latest paper, “Principled Conservatism in America’s Foreign Affairs and National Security Policy,” by NSI Distinguished Fellow Christopher Ford.
In the hope of catalyzing policy conversations and drawing out points of potential agreement between policy stakeholders, in this paper, former diplomat and Republican political appointee Dr. Christopher Ford offers his thoughts on what a broad vision for ‘principled conservatism’ in U.S. foreign and national security policy might look like. Topics in the paper include:
- Great power competition, democracy, and the rule of law;
- The role of professional expertise in policymaking;
- International allies and partners, terrorists and rogue regimes;
- Trade, immigration, and energy; and
- Political dialogue and Constitutionalism.
“Historically, politicians and political parties have often used time spent out of office as an opportunity to learn from past successes and failures, to recover a shared vision of the direction and objectives of political life, and to formulate the policy agendas that they hope will eventually return them to power with the trust of the country’s voters. American conservatives are out of power today, and have both an opportunity and a need for such soul-searching and vision-recovery,” said NSI Distinguished Fellow Dr. Christopher Ford. “At a time, moreover, when both of the main U.S. political parties are riven by factional conflict between centrists and radicals, I hope this paper will provide food for thought for anyone interested in the future of U.S. politics and policymaking,” he added.
“The exercise of creating a platform that allows an out-of-power political movement to return to power often begins with considering foundational beliefs that underpin its ideas,” said NSI Director of Strategy Matthew Heiman. “Christopher Ford’s paper lays out a case for what he describes as ‘principled conservatism’ in national security affairs. Covering the waterfront of foreign policy challenges, this paper should be considered by conservatives that are debating U.S. engagement with the world as well as liberals that will need to respond to their opponents’ arguments.”
Dr. Ford's article on "Thinking About Strategy in an Artificial Superintelligence Arms Race" -- co-authored with Dr. Craig Wiener -- was published in Defense & Strategic Studies Online (DASSO), vol. 1, no. 4 (Summer 2025). You can find the whole issue on the DASSO website here , or use the button below to download a PDF of the Ford/Wiener article. (Also, the home page for DASSO can be found here .)
Below are the remarks Dr. Ford delivered to a webinar sponsored by the National Institute for Deterrence Studies on August 29, 2025.
Over much of last year, Dr. Ford participated in the Senior Study Group (SSG) on Strategic Stability at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). Ably chaired by Brad Roberts of the Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Rebeccah Heinrichs of Hudson Institute, the SSG completed its report in February 2025, only to immediately run into publication problems as a result of the government's effort to shut down the USIP. The litigation associated with that effort remains ongoing, but the SSG is pleased to be able now to publish its report. The report is not available on the USIP website, but you can use the button below to download a PDF.
Below is the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford drew in his remarks to and discussions with a nuclear deterrence study group in London on July 28, 2025.
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford based his remarks on July 22, 2025, to a conference sponsored by the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Below is the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford based his oral remarks at a conference sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at Cambridge University on June 17, 2025.
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford drew in delivering his remarks at a conference on "Transatlantic Turbulence: What Next for European Defence?" held at the University of Birmingham on June 13, 2025.
Below are the remarks Dr. Ford delivered (virtually) to a conference in Beijing on June 12, 2025, sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN) and the Grandview Institution .
The National Institute for Public Policy published Dr. Ford's article "Thinking About Russian Nuclear Weapons Thinking" in volume 5, number 2, of the Journal of Policy & Strategy (2025). You can find the whole issue on the NIPP website here , or use the button below to download a PDF of the article.
In this article in Volume 1, Issue 3 of the Missouri State Univeristy's online journal Defense & Strategic Studies Online (pp. 1-89), Dr. Christopher Ford, John Schurtz, and Erik Quam offer a detailed analytical account of how cybernetic theories of social control developed by the scientist Qian Xuesen and his disciples were adopted by the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and are today critical to understanding the Party’s domestic governance and foreign relations. You can see the whole issue on DASSO's website here , read the Ford/Schurtz/Quam article here , or use the button below to access a PDF of the article.