Right Web

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The Institute of World Politics (IWP) is a Washington, D.C.-based graduate school of national security and international affairs that is closely tied to right-wing networks in the United States. Founded in 1990, the IWP describes itself as a professional school whose mission is to develop “leaders with a sound understanding of international realities and the ethical conduct of statecraft, based on knowledge and appreciation of the principles of the American political economy and the Western moral tradition.”[1]

IWP espouses a distinctly conservative educational philosophy: “Proceeding from this premise of a moral quality to human nature, the Institute's curriculum is based on recognition of the necessity for education in natural law—deriving from the Western, Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian moral tradition. Thus, the Institute, above all, is dedicated to, and encourages, the search for truth. This means that the Institute recognizes that there is such a thing as truth and that truth is not relative. It thus recognizes the existence of historical facts that are true regardless of the perspective of observers of those facts.”[2]

IWP’s founding president is John Lenczowski. A staffer in the National Security Council under President Ronald Reagan, Lenczowski has worked for a number of neoconservative groups, including the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Ethics and Public Policy Center.[3]

The institute’s current and former staff and faculty also include a number of people closely affiliated with neoconservatism and other militarist political factions. IWP faculty as of 2010 included J. Michael Waller, a vice president of the Center for Security Policy; Kenneth deGraffenreid, an intelligence official under Presidents Ronald Regan and George W. Bush who has worked for several hawkish advocacy groups, including Family Security Matters; Joshua Muravchik, a leading neoconservative writer formerly based at AEI and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy;andHenry Sokolski, a Defense official under President George H.W. Bush. Erik Prince, founder of the controversial Blackwater Worldwide (Xe) private security company, serves on IWP’s board of trustees. 

The institute also features a number of prominent hawks on its list of guest lecturers, including Paula Dobriansky of AEI, Douglas Feith, Francis Fukuyama, Bill Gertz of the Washington Times, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Carnes Lord, AEI’s Michael Novak, and former CIA director James Woolsey.

The institute has also received significant donations from right-wing foundations, including the Bradley ,Castle Rock, Earhart, Olin, and Smith Richardson foundation.[4]

Please note: IPS Right Web neither represents nor endorses any of the individuals or groups profiled on this site.