Past Grants

Minxin Pei will edit and publish China Leadership Monitor. He will commission research and analysis from a network of contributors on China’s leadership politics in four areas: elite politics, national security, economic policy, and domestic trends.

Peter Bergen and Candace Rondeaux will research and write a book analyzing the landscape of proxy wars among great and medium powers and explore how the United States can pursue its interests effectively in this environment. They will commission papers on various aspects of proxy war and case studies of conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. They will explore the likely course of future rivalries involving proxy warfare, the dilemmas inherent in the relationships between sponsors and proxies, and the innovations in such warfare in the modern period.

Fred Doolittle will direct the research and publications program of the Learning from Administrative Data Project. In order to measure the long-term impacts of policies and programs designed to increase economic opportunity and social mobility, he will link data from an inventory of randomized controlled trials, undertaken over the past two decades, to administrative records recording outcomes such as employment, earnings, post-secondary degree attainment, and receipt of public assistance. The project’s findings will appear in a series of reports and policy briefs.

Randall Eberts will lead an effort to examine whether state employment agencies can play a more effective role in preparing low-skilled individuals for success in the workforce. He will analyze data from six states that provide detailed information on individuals who have enrolled in state workforce development programs, including their socioeconomic background and educational attainment, as well as employment and earnings both before and after enrollment. The project’s findings will appear in a series of reports, papers, and briefings for state officials.

Patrick Cronin will lead an effort to develop an alternative strategic framework for thinking about possible U.S. responses to China’s challenge in the South China Sea. He will undertake field work and host a series of workshops to explore whether insights from past insurgency and counterinsurgency campaigns could be adapted to prevent China’s domination of the South China Sea. The project’s findings will appear in a report and a series of briefings.

David Shambaugh will research and write a book assessing the competitive landscape in the contest for influence between the United States and China in Southeast Asia.

Alexander Benard will research and write a book examining the pattern and dynamics of great-power competition in swing countries, states that are the focus of competitions for influence among the United States, China, and Russia. He will describe the great power competition under way in a variety of countries, including Mongolia, Georgia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Djibouti, Mozambique, and Chile, and draw out lessons for U.S. policy from these cases.

David Stoesz will research and write a book exploring the extent to which an evidence-based approach toward allocating resources to social programs could increase economic opportunities for disadvantaged individuals and families. He will trace the history of the evidence-based policy movement, describe a number of social policy interventions that have been shown to be effective, and then explore some of the key challenges facing this approach to policymaking, particularly replicability, scalability, openness to innovation, and financing.