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American Enterprise Institute


 
 

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) is a conservative think tankThink tank

A think tank is a research institute or informal group providing advice and ideas on any aspect of future planning and strat...
, founded in 1943. It is associated with neoconservativeNeoconservatism

Neoconservatism is a political current and ideology, mainly in the United States, which is generally held to have emerged in...
 domestic and foreign policy views. According to the institute its mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of AmericanUnited States

The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., and America, is...
 freedomFreedom (political)

Political freedom is the right, or the capacity, of self-determination as an expression of the individual will....
 and democratic capitalismDemocratic capitalism

Democratic Capitalism is an economic ideology based on a tripartite arrangement of a market-based economy based predominant...
 — limited governmentGovernment

A government is a body that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws within a civil, corporate, religious, a...
, private enterprisePrivate sector

The private sector of a nation's economy consists of those entities which are not controlled by the state - i.e., a variety ...
, individual libertyLiberty

Liberty is generally considered a concept of political philosophy and identifies the condition in which an individual has im...
 and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policiesForeign policy

A foreign policy is a set of political goals that seeks to outline how a particular country will interact with other countri...
, political accountabilityAccountability

Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings....
, and open debateDebate Overview

Debate or debating is a formal method of interactive and position representational argument....
." AEI is an independent, non-profit organization. It is supported primarily by grants and contributions from foundationsFoundation (charity)

Foundations in civil law systemsThe term "foundation" originates in civil law jurisdictions, where it is used to describe a disti...
, corporations, and individuals. It is located in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. is the capital city of the United States of America....


AEI has emerged as one of the leading architects of the second Bush administrationGeorge W. Bush

This page is monitored by many people and bots, and joke edits are removed quickly....
's public policy. More than twenty AEI alumni and current visiting scholars and fellows have served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government's many panels and commissions. Former United States Deputy Secretary of DefenseUnited States Deputy Secretary of Defense Summary

The United States Deputy Secretary of Defense is the second-highest ranking official in the United States Department of Defe...
 Paul WolfowitzPaul Wolfowitz Summary

Paul Dundes Wolfowitz who is Jewish, is an American academic and political figure....
 is a visiting scholarVisiting scholar

A visiting scholar, in the world of academia, is a scholar from an institution who visits a receiving university that hosts ...
, and Lynne CheneyLynne Cheney Overview

Lynne Ann Vincent Cheney is the wife of Vice President Richard B....
, wife of Vice PresidentVice President of the United States Overview

The Vice President of the United States is the second-highest executive official of the United States government....
 Dick CheneyFacts About Dick Cheney

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney is the 46th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President George W....
 and former chairman of the National Endowment for the HumanitiesNational Endowment for the Humanities

The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National ...
, is a senior fellow.

Political stance

AEI is often cited as a right-leaningCentre-right

The centre-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote political parties or organisations that stretch fro...
 counterpart to the left-leaningCentre-left

The term centre-left has two distinct meanings in politics:...
 Brookings InstitutionBrookings Institution

The Brookings Institution is a think tank, based in Washington, D.C., in the United States....
.
In 1998, AEI and BrookingsFacts About Brookings Institution

The Brookings Institution is a think tank, based in Washington, D.C., in the United States....
 established the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies.
In 2006, the two organizations jointly launched the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project.

AEI has connections with the neoconservative movement in American politics.
Irving KristolIrving Kristol Overview

In July 2002, President George W. Bush awarded Kristol the Presidential Medal of Freedom. ...
, widely regarded as the movement's founder, is a Senior Fellow at AEI.

Officers and trustees

AEI's officers are Christopher DeMuthChristopher DeMuth

Christopher C. DeMuth is an American lawyer....
, president; David Gerson, executive vice president; Jason Bertsch, vice president for marketing; Henry Olsen, vice president and director of the National Research Initiative; and Danielle PletkaDanielle Pletka

Danielle Pletka is vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute....
, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies. On January 1, 2009, Arthur C. BrooksArthur C. Brooks

Arthur C. Brooks is an American social scientist and musician....
 will succeed DeMuth as the eleventh president of AEI.

Its board is chaired by Bruce KovnerBruce Kovner Overview

Bruce Stanley Kovner is an American businessman....
. Current notable trustees include Gordon BinderGordon Binder

Gordon Binder is currently managing director of Coastview Capital, LLC, and previously was chairman of Amgen....
, John V. FaraciJohn V. Faraci

John V. Faraci is the CEO of International Paper Co....
, Christopher GalvinChristopher Galvin

Christopher B. Galvin is the grandson of Paul Galvin and the son of Robert Galvin....
, Raymond GilmartinRaymond Gilmartin

Raymond Gilmartin is a current member of the board of directors at Microsoft and at General Mills....
, Harvey GolubHarvey Golub Summary

Harvey Golub is the Chairman of the Board at the Campbell Soup Company as of Jan....
, Roger HertogRoger Hertog

Roger Hertog is an American businessman, financier and conservative philanthropist....
, Robert PritzkerRobert Pritzker

Robert Pritzker is a member of the wealthy Pritzker family, and runs the Pritzker Organization's assets....
, Lee RaymondLee Raymond

Lee R. Raymond was the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of ExxonMobil from 1999 to 2005....
, Kevin RollinsKevin Rollins

Kevin B. Rollins is the President and CEO of Dell, Inc....
, Edward B. Rust Jr.Edward B. Rust Jr.

Edward B. Rust Jr. is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, B...
, and James Q. WilsonJames Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson is the Ronald Reagan professor of public policy at Pepperdine University in California, and a professor emer...
.

AEI has a Council of Academic Advisers, chaired by James Q. Wilson, which includes Martin FeldsteinFacts About Martin Feldstein

Martin Stuart Feldstein is an American economist....
, Gertrude HimmelfarbGertrude Himmelfarb

Gertrude Himmelfarb is an American historian known for her studies of the intellectual history of the Victorian era, particu...
, R. Glenn HubbardFacts About Glenn Hubbard (economics)

R. Glenn Hubbard is an American economist, and the Dean and Russell L....
, Samuel P. HuntingtonSamuel P. Huntington Overview

Samuel Phillips Huntington is a political scientist known for his analysis of the relationship between the military and the ...
, William M. Landes, Sam Peltzman, George L. PriestGeorge L. Priest

George L. Priest is the John M. Olin Professor of Law and Economics and Director of the John M....
, Jeremy A. Rabkin, Murray L. Weidenbaum, and Richard J. ZeckhauserRichard Zeckhauser

Richard J. Zeckhauser is an American economist and the Frank P....
.

Scholars and fellows

AEI lists their scholars and fellows on their web site. Some prominent current AEI scholars and fellows include:
  • Michael BaroneMichael Barone

    Michael Barone can refer to more than one person:...
    , coauthor of The Almanac of American Politics
  • John R. BoltonJohn R. Bolton

    John Robert Bolton is an American diplomat, serving currently as the U.S....
    , former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
  • Arthur C. BrooksFacts About Arthur C. Brooks

    Arthur C. Brooks is an American social scientist and musician....
    , visiting scholar and author of Gross National Happiness
  • Lynne CheneyLynne Cheney

    Lynne Ann Vincent Cheney is the wife of Vice President Richard B....
    , wife of U.S. Vice President Dick CheneyFacts About Dick Cheney

    Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney is the 46th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President George W....
    , AEI senior fellow.
  • Ted FrankTed Frank

    Theodore H. Frank is an American lawyer and a "leading tort-reform advocate" in the United States....
    , director of the AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest
  • David FrumDavid Frum

    David J. Frum, a Canadian-American former speechwriter for President George W....
    , an author and former speechwriter for BushGeorge W. Bush

    This page is monitored by many people and bots, and joke edits are removed quickly....
    , is a resident fellow.
  • David GelernterDavid Gelernter

    David Hillel Gelernter is a professor of computer science at Yale University....
    , professor of computer science at Yale University; a victim of the Unabomber.
  • Reuel Marc GerechtReuel Marc Gerecht

    Reuel Marc Gerecht is the director of the Project for the New American Century's Middle East Initiative....
     is a resident fellow. He is the director of the Project for the New American CenturyProject for the New American Century Overview

    The Project for the New American Century is an American political think tank, based in Washington, DC....
    's Middle East Initiative and a former Middle EastMiddle East

    The Middle East is a subcontinent for the historical and cultural subregion of Africa-Eurasia traditionally held to be count...
     specialist at the CIA.
  • Newt GingrichNewt Gingrich

    Newton Leroy Gingrich is an American politician who is best known as the Speaker of the United States House of Representativ...
    , member of the Republican Party and Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives

    The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the Se...
     between 1995 and 1999, is a senior fellow at AEI focusing on health care (he has founded the Center for Health Transformation), information technology, the military, and politics.
  • Scott GottliebScott Gottlieb

    Scott Gottlieb may refer to:*Scott Gottlieb...
    , former Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs at the Food & Drug Administration
  • Michael S. Greve, founder of the Center for Individual RightsCenter for Individual Rights

    The Center for Individual Rights is a nonprofit public interest law firm in Washington, D.C....
    , is the John G. Searle Scholar at AEI.
  • Kevin HassettKevin Hassett Overview

    Kevin Hassett is senior fellow at the think tank American Enterprise Institute where he directs economic policy studies....
    , economic adviser to George W. Bush and John McCainJohn McCain Overview

    John Sidney McCain III is the senior U.S....
     during their presidential campaigns
  • Steven HaywardSteven Hayward

    , and the [[University of Toron...
     is a resident scholar.
  • Ayaan Hirsi AliAyaan Hirsi Ali

    Ayaan Hirsi Ali, born Ayaan Hirsi Magan 13 November 1969 in Mogadishu, Somalia, is a Dutch feminist and politician, dau...
    , a fellow, is a former Dutch politician, women's rights activist and critic of Islamism & Shar'ia Law.
  • Leon KassLeon Kass

    Leon Kass is the Addie Clark Harding Professor in the College and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chica...
    , former chairman, President's Council on Bioethics
  • Frederick KaganFrederick Kagan

    Frederick W. Kagan is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a former professor of military history at...
     is a military historian and signatory of Project for the New American CenturyProject for the New American Century

    The Project for the New American Century is an American political think tank, based in Washington, DC....
     manifesto titled (2000) along with his brother Robert (co-founder of the PNAC) and his father and fellow neo-conservative, Donald KaganDonald Kagan

    Donald Kagan is a Yale historian specializing in ancient Greece, notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian Wa...
    .
  • Irving KristolFacts About Irving Kristol

    In July 2002, President George W. Bush awarded Kristol the Presidential Medal of Freedom. ...
  • Michael LedeenMichael Ledeen

    Michael Ledeen is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute....
     was previously involved in the transfer of arms to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair — an adventure that he documented in his book, Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of the Iran-Contra Affair.
  • Lawrence Lindsey
  • Gregory Mankiw
  • Allan MeltzerAllan Meltzer

    Allan Meltzer is an American economist and professor of Political Economy at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of ...
     is one of the foremost academics studying monetary policy and the Federal Reserve Bank. He, along with economist Milton Friedman, pioneered monetarismMonetarism

    Monetarism is a set of views concerning the determination of national income and monetary economics....
    , the now widely accepted theory that inflation is entirely the result of the growth of the money supply. Meltzer is currently working on the second volume of his History of the Federal Reserve.
  • Joshua MuravchikJoshua Muravchik

    Joshua Muravchik is an author and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research....
     is a resident scholar. He researches Middle East politics, democracy, neoconservatism and the history of socialism.
  • Charles MurrayCharles Murray (author)

    Charles Alan Murray is an influential American policy writer and researcher....
    , an influential policy writer and a researcher, is the W.H. Brady Scholar in Culture and Freedom. He is best known for his work in welfare reformWelfare reform

    Welfare reform is the name for a policy change in countries with a state-administered social welfare system to reduce depend...
     and as the co-author of the controversial 1994 book, The Bell CurveThe Bell Curve

    The Bell Curve is a controversial, best-selling 1994 book by Richard J....
    .
  • Michael NovakMichael Novak

    Michael Novak is a conservative Roman Catholic American philosopher and diplomat....
     is the George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy and Public Policy and Director of Social and Political Studies at the institute. He has written extensively about the role of faith in government.
  • Norman Ornstein has been a Congressional analyst and political commentator for more than thirty five years.
  • Richard PerleRichard Perle

    Richard Norman Perle, who is Jewish, is an American political advisor who served the Reagan administration as an assistant S...
     served on the United States Defense Policy Board and is a former Assistant Secretary of DefenseUnited States Secretary of Defense

    The United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense, concerned with the armed se...
    .
  • Danielle PletkaDanielle Pletka

    Danielle Pletka is vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute....
    , Vice President, her research areas include the Middle East
  • Sally SatelSally Satel

    Sally Satel, M.D., is a practicing psychiatrist, a lecturer at Yale University School of Medicine, the W.H....
     is a psychiatrist and author of PC, M.D.: How Political Correctness is Corrupting Medicine.
  • Christina Hoff SommersChristina Hoff Sommers

    Christina Hoff Sommers is an American author who researches culture, adolescents, and morality in American society....
     is a critic of the feminist movement. She is the author of Who Stole Feminism and The War Against Boys.
  • Peter Wallison was general counsel of the United States Department of the TreasuryUnited States Department of the Treasury

    The United States Department of the Treasury is a Cabinet department and the treasury of the United States government....
     and counsel to president Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan

    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California ....
  • Ben Wattenberg, a speechwriter for President Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson

    Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States ....
    , is a senior fellow.
  • Paul WolfowitzPaul Wolfowitz

    Paul Dundes Wolfowitz who is Jewish, is an American academic and political figure....
     (Visiting Scholar), A "major architect of President Bush's IraqIraq War

    The Iraq War, also known alternatively as the Second or Third Gulf War, is a military engagement encompassing th...
     policy and, within the [George W. Bush] Administration, its most passionate and compelling advocate."
  • John YooJohn Yoo

    John Choon Yoo , a professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law....
    , formerly of the Office of Legal CounselOffice of Legal Counsel

    The Office of Legal Counsel is an American government legal office in the U.S....
    , and a professor at Boalt HallFacts About Boalt Hall

    The UC Berkeley School of Law, commonly referred to as Boalt Hall, is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University...
    , is a visiting scholar.

Former scholars

  • Robert BorkRobert Bork

    Robert Heron Bork is a conservative American legal scholar who advocates the judicial philosophy of originalism....
    , former resident fellow, Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States

    The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the judicial branch of th...
     nominee
  • Jeffrey GedminFacts About Jeffrey Gedmin

    Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin is the President of , a position he assumed in March 2007....
    , former resident scholar and Executive Director of AEI’s New Atlantic InitiativeNew Atlantic Initiative

    The New Atlantic Initiative is an international nonpartisan organization dedicated to revitalizing and expanding the Atlanti...
    , current President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
  • James K. GlassmanJames K. Glassman

    James K. Glassman is an American conservative editorialist, journalist and author....
    , under secretary of state for public diplomacy and founder of TCSDaily.com, was a senior fellow until 2008.
  • Alan KeyesAlan Keyes

    Dr. Alan Keyes is an American politician, diplomat, and social conservative activist....
    , former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization AffairsAssistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs

    The Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs is the head of the Bureau of International Organizat...
    , is a former AEI resident scholar.
  • Jeane KirkpatrickJeane Kirkpatrick

    Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick is an American conservative political scientist and member of the neoconservative movement....
     was the former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United NationsUnited Nations

    name = United NationsNations Unies...
     and was an AEI senior fellow until she died in 2006.
  • Fred ThompsonFred Thompson

    Notable people named Fred Thompson include:...
    , Television and film actor, currently appearing on the television show Law & OrderLaw & Order

    Law & Order is an American television police procedural and legal drama set in New York City....
    , former U.S. Senator, and former Republican presidential primary candidate, was a visiting fellow.

See Also

  • Global Governance Watch

External links

  • .
  • . Formerly The American Enterprise (TAE) magazine
  • Benjamin Wallace-Wells, , Washington Monthly, December 2003
  • Christopher DeMuthChristopher DeMuth

    Christopher C. DeMuth is an American lawyer....
    , , OpinionJournal.comOpinionJournal.com

    OpinionJournal.com is the website for the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal....
    , October 11, 2007