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.”
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.
Below are the prepared remarks upon which Dr. Ford based some of his contributions on a panel on “Tech for War or Tech for Peace? Science, Innovation, and Emerging Technologies in a New Geopolitical Era” at a conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, on May 22, 2025, sponsored by the Arms Control Negotiation Academy (ACONA) and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF).
Below is the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford based his opening remarks on May 21, 2025, when moderating the opening panel – entitled “NATO and Allied Perspectives on Multi-Domain Operations: A Common Understanding or Diverging Views?” – at the conference on Multi-Domain Operations sponsored by NATO’s Supreme Allied Command Transformation (ACT) in Ankara, Türkiye. (His remarks consisted only of his personal views, and do not necessarily represent those of anyone else.)
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford based his remarks on a webinar organized by the National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP) on April 28, 2025.
Below is the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford drew in making his informal remarks on April 21, 2025, at the biennial nuclear policy conference held by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. You can find a video of the panel discussion here .
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford drew in making his informal remarks to a March 13, 2025, workshop as part of the “Future of Arms Control Project” sponsored by the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding (CCDP).
The National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP) published Dr. Ford's paper " Struggling with The Bomb: Competing Discourses in the Nuclear Disarmament Movement" in February 2025, as the second paper in Volume 5 of its Occasional Papers series. You can find Dr. Ford's paper on NIPP's website here , or use the button below to download a PDF.
Dr. Ford and Lord Nigel Biggar published their essay on " Rebutting Sino-Russian Political Discourse and Getting Rights Right" in the Winter 2025 issue of Defense & Strategic Studies Online (DASSO). You can find the DASSO homepage here , read the full second issue of DASSO here , access the Ford/Biggar essay online here , or use the button below to download a PDF of the essay.
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford based his remarks to a conference at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on February 20, 2025.
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford based his remarks on February 18, 2025, to a Track 2 dialogue with Russia on Military Risk Reduction in Europe.