Less war. More Strategy.

The John Quincy Adams Society is an independent organization committed to identifying, educating, and equipping the next generation of scholars and policy leaders to encourage a new era of realism and restraint in American foreign policy.

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We Believe

In a rapidly changing world, America’s next generation of leaders will need:

  • to be able to distinguish between vital and secondary interests, and
  • to recognize that good intentions are not enough to secure good results, and can sometimes yield bad ones.

That America’s next generation of leaders must be able:

  • to recognize when an international problem cannot be solved, and
  • to recognize when America is not the best-placed actor to solve a problem.

America’s grand strategy, including the extent to which it tries to manage the international system, should be carefully discussed, not assumed.

That open, rigorous dialogue on tough questions like these will be beneficial to all, while a narrower, lower-quality foreign-policy debate hinders all viewpoints.