Applications for Foreign Policy Research Grants

The Charles Koch Foundation welcomes applications for its Foreign Policy Research Grants program, which provides support to scholars and research institutions interested in challenging the current foreign policy approach of the United States, providing alternative visions for U.S. foreign policy, and engaging in research that can bridge the gap between ideas and policy. While the foundation is especially interested in foreign policy research projects from the fields of political science, international relations, history, or economics, proposals from all fields will be considered on their merits.

The foundation is especially interested in work that explores topics and issues related to a grand strategy of restraint; examines the role of values and ethics in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy; addresses the unintended consequences of U.S. military actions abroad and explores the costs and impact of engagements in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and other places where significant counterterrorism efforts have been conducted; considers the impact of U.S. military engagement abroad on American society — for instance, the effect of our foreign policy decisions on civil liberties or the health and welfare of veterans; explores the concept of threat inflation and identifies the problematic nature of theories of credibility and reputation in relation to U.S. foreign policy; analyzes executive–legislative relations in foreign policy, including the constitutional division of war powers; examines the impact of domestic interest groups, businesses, think tanks, and the permanent national security bureaucracy on U.S. foreign policy; explores the growth of the intelligence and national security establishments since 9/11; surveys the costs, risks, and impacts of foreign aid and alliance commitments; studies the costs and benefits of burden-sharing and burden-shifting with current allies; scrutinizes Pentagon spending, force structure, and the strategic demands of U.S. defense policy — including structural incentives for military expenditures; considers the consequences of an increasingly multipolar world, especially as concerns principal geostrategic regions (e.g., Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Western Pacific); and explores how changes in technology (such as anti-access and area deferral, commonly referred to as A2/AD) that impact the offense-defense balance can be leveraged to support a sound approach to grand strategy.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Charles Koch Foundation website.