Project for the New American Century

Project for the New American Century (PNAC)
Formation1997; 27 years ago (1997)
FounderWilliam Kristol, Robert Kagan
Dissolved2006; 18 years ago (2006)
TypePublic policy think tank
Location
Chairman
William Kristol
Directors

The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was a neoconservative[1][2][3] think tank based in Washington, D.C., that focused on United States foreign policy. It was established as a non-profit educational organization in 1997, and founded by William Kristol and Robert Kagan.[4][5] PNAC's stated goal was "to promote American global leadership".[6] The organization stated that "American leadership is good both for America and for the world", and sought to build support for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity".[7]

Of the twenty-five people who signed PNAC's founding statement of principles, ten went on to serve in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz.[8][9][10][11] Observers such as Irwin Stelzer and Dave Grondin have suggested that the PNAC played a key role in shaping the foreign policy of the Bush Administration, particularly in building support for the Iraq War.[12][13][14][15] Academics such as Inderjeet Parmar, Phillip Hammond, and Donald E. Abelson have said PNAC's influence on the George W. Bush administration has been exaggerated.[16][17][18]

The Project for the New American Century ceased to function in 2006;[19] it was replaced by a new think-tank named the Foreign Policy Initiative, co-founded by Kristol and Kagan in 2009. The Foreign Policy Initiative was dissolved in 2017.

  1. ^ The following refer to or label PNAC as a neoconservative organization:
    • Albanese, Matteo (2012). The Concept of War in Neoconservative Thinking. Ipoc Press. p. 72. ISBN 9788867720002. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
    • Ryan, Maria. Neoconservatism and the New American Century. Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Feldman, Stephen. Neoconservative Politics and the Supreme Court. NYU Press. p. 67.
    • Brownstein, Ronald (April 17, 2003). "War With Iraq/Political Thought: Those Who Sought War are Now Pushing Peace". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
    • Greenberger, Robert S; Legget, Karby (March 21, 2003). "Bush Dreams of Changing Not Just Regime but Region". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
    • Maddox, Bronwen (July 14, 2004). "Nation-Builders must not lose their voice". The Times. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
    • Salvucci, Jim (August 25, 2003). "Bush Uses Crisis to Push Preset Agenda". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  2. ^ First Impressions, Second Thoughts: Reflections on the Changing Role of Think Tanks in U.S. Foreign Policy Archived November 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Abelson, Critical Issues of Our Time, v. 8, Center for American Studies, University of Western Ontario, 2011
  3. ^ Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power, David Rothkopf, PublicAffairs, 2006
  4. ^ Home page of the Project for the New American Century, accessed March 4, 2015.
  5. ^ Elliott Abrams, et al., "Statement of Principles", June 3, 1997, newamericancentury.org, accessed May 28, 2007.
  6. ^ "About PNAC", newamericancentury.org, n.d., accessed May 30, 2007: "Established in the spring of 1997, the Project for the New American Century is a non-profit, educational organization whose goal is to promote American global leadership. The Project was an initiative of the New Citizenship Project (501c3); the New Citizenship Project's chairman is William Kristol and its president is Gary Schmitt."
  7. ^ Statement of Principles of the Project for a New American Century :
  8. ^ [1] United States Foreign Policy and National Identity in the 21st Century, Kenneth Christie (ed.), Routledge, 2008
  9. ^ Max Boot, "Neocons", Foreign Policy No. 140 (January–February 2004), pp. 20–22, 24, 26, 28 JSTOR
  10. ^ Parmar, Inderjeet (2008). "Chapter 3: A Neo-Conservative-Dominated US Foreign Policy Establishment?". In Christie, Kenneth (ed.). United States Foreign Policy and National Identity in the 21st Century. Routledge. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-415-57357-3.
    • "The PNAC's 33 leaders were highly connected with the American state – displaying 115 such connections: 27 with the Department of Defense, 13 with State, 12 with the White House, 10 with the National Security Council, and 23 with Congress."
    • "The PNAC may be considered strongly integrated into the political and administrative machinery of US power; certainly, it is not an outsider institution in this regard."
  11. ^ Funabashi, Yichi (2007). The Peninsula Question: A Chronicle of the Second Korean Nuclear Crisis. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution. ISBN 978-0-8157-3010-1.
    • "Of the twenty-five signatories of the PNAC's Statement of Principles ... ten went on to serve in the George W. Bush administration, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz, among others."
  12. ^ Stelzer, Irwin (2004). Neoconservatism. London: Atlantic Books. p. 5.
    • (on PNAC, founded by Kristol): "Its other founders included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Elliot Abrams, all of whom were destined for key positions in the Bush administration – with the exception of Kristol."
    • "No one can doubt that PNAC was an important contributor to the Bush administration's foreign policy. To suggest, however, that it is a part of some secret effort to overthrow traditional American foreign policy is not true."
  13. ^ Hammond, Phillip (2007). Media, War and Postmodernity. Routledge. p. 72. Rebuilding America's Defences, September 2000.
    • "Critics have made much of the fact that US actions after 9/11 seemed to follow neoconservative thinking on foreign and security policy formulated before Bush took office", p. 72.
    • "In particular, Rebuilding American Defenses ... is often cited as evidence that a blueprint for American domination of the world was implemented under of cover of the War on Terrorism", p. 72.
  14. ^ Parmar, Inderjeet (2008). "Chapter 3: A Neo-Conservative-Dominated US Foreign Policy Establishment?". In Christie, Kenneth (ed.). United States Foreign Policy and National Identity in the 21st Century (PDF). New York and London: Routledge. p. 49. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 25, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
    • "It is often argued that the neo-cons hijacked the Bush administration – particularly through the influence of PNAC."
  15. ^ Grondin, David (2005). "Mistaking Hegemony for Empire: Neoconservatives, the Bush Doctrine, and the Democratic Empire". International Journal. 61 (1): 227–241. doi:10.2307/40204140. JSTOR 40204140.
    • "There can be no question that the September 2002 'National security strategy of the United States of America,' announcing a Bush doctrine predicated upon military prevention, regime change, and enhanced defence spending, has been heavily influenced by neoconservative writings. Among these have been works published under the aegis of the 'Project for a new American century,' including Rebuilding America's Defenses (by Donald Kagan, Gary Schmitt, and Thomas Donnelly), and Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy (by William Kristol and Robert Kagan)." pp. 231–232.
  16. ^ Parmar, Inderjeet (2008). "Chapter 3: A Neo-Conservative-Dominated US Foreign Policy Establishment?". In Christie, Kenneth (ed.). United States Foreign Policy and National Identity in the 21st Century. Routledge Studies in US Foreign Policy. Routledge. p. 49.
  17. ^ Hammond, Phillip (2007). Media, War and Postmodernity. Routledge. p. 72. Rebuilding America's Defences, September 2000.
  18. ^ Abelson, Donald E (2006). Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and US Foreign Policy. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 218–219. ISBN 978-0773531154. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  19. ^ Ryan, Maria (2010). Neoconservatism and the New American Century. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-10467-9. Retrieved March 2, 2015.