Evaluation of the 2012 Chicago NATO Summit

New Publication Now Online: Evaluation of the 2012 Chicago NATO Summit

The 2012 Chicago NATO Summit was a significant event for the City of Chicago, the U.S., and for the Transatlantic Alliance.  On the agenda were a number of important issues affecting global security and the future of the transatlantic relationship.  Some of these were addressed substantively, others were glossed over.  In both cases, the implications of the Summit have profound effects on international relations and U.S. national security.

This special issue of the National Strategy Forum Review (NSFR) evaluates the 2012 Chicago NATO Summit on the basis of what was on the agenda, what agreements and policies were produced during the Summit, and what the consequences of these policies will be in the future.  NATO affiliates and NSFR Editorial Board Members have evaluated these criteria in the first section, titled “Evaluation of the 2012 Chicago NATO Summit.”  For the past several years, the National Strategy Forum has developed a close working relationship with the Northwestern Medill School of Journalism National Security Journalism Initiative that is funded, in part, by generous assistance from the McCormick Foundation.  In the second section, titled “Key Issues for NATO,” advanced graduate school journalism students from Medill were assigned to do first-hand interviews with NATO participants and stakeholders, and have provided reports on many of the complex issues facing NATO after the Summit.

Looking back on the May summit, much was accomplished, but there were opportunities that were missed and there are several negative implications for the future.  The articles herein provide the reader with the playbook for analyzing these issues and arriving at their own conclusions.

 To access this new NSFR Special Edition, please visit the link here.

Pew Global Attitudes Survey: U.S. Image in Pakistan

A new Pew Global Attitudes Project poll was released on June 21, 2011 detailing the U.S. image in Pakistan.  The survey data is available at the link here.

Many of these findings echo NSF research completed in March-April of 2011.  The Spring 2011 NSFR report titled “The U.S.-Pakistan Relationship: Towards a Complementary Strategy” analyzed many of these trends and suggested a complementary strategy for achieving U.S. objectives in Pakistan.

To improve the relationship, the report suggested a number of initiative (details found on page 14):

• Restructuring American aid to Pakistan by emphasizing targeted project investments that are highly visible to the Pakistani public. Several common sense ideas include power plants and natural gas facilities.
• Establishing anti-corruption controls to facilitate future American aid and support.
• Emphasizing U.S. communications and branding. America must rebrand its image, sense of purpose, and policy actions in the eyes of Pakistan’s public.
• Encouraging cultural diplomacy that leverages civilian cross-cultural exchanges and study abroad opportunities.
• Increasing medical collaboration in projects that provide visible assistance to the Pakistani people.
• Setting a new diplomatic tone to make it more likely that the two countries listen to one another.

The new Pew Global Attitudes survey on Pakistan reinforces a number of the trends identified in the NSF report.  There are ten notable results from the Pew Global Attitudes survey data:

The U.S.-Pakistan Relationship: Toward a Complementary Strategy

The U.S.-Pakistan relationship is vital to U.S. interests in the Middle East.  The relationship has been especially strained recently, putting into question the future of U.S. aid and commitments to Pakistan.

This issue of the NSFR, titled “The U.S.-Pakistan Relationship: Toward a Complementary Strategy”, is a report of a series of interviews with Pakistan VIPs conducted by the NSFR Editorial Board.  Our findings have been distilled and we have provided a number of policy options with the objective of reformulating U.S. relations with Pakistan.  Our suggestions are based on complementary strategy: the idea that the U.S. and Pakistan must understand each other’s objectives before hard negotiations can be effective.  Also in this issue are two articles by high level Pakistani political figures: General (Retired) Parvez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan, and Imran Khan, a prominent philanthropist and activist leader of a leading Pakistan political party.  Their thoughts add a unique Pakistani perspective to the analysis of this relationship.

Following the publication of the NSFR report, President Obama announced a new direction for America’s Middle East strategy.  Here are the key points of his speech:

• Elevating trade and investment over financial aid handouts
• Broadening and deepening regional trade initiatives between the U.S. and the region
• Promoting the development of civil society
• Demanding anti-corruption initiatives
• Encouraging new forms of U.S. communication and outreach to the Middle East

These policy initiatives are consistent with our findings.  So far, President Obama has limited implementation to Tunisia and Egypt.  The NSFR report advocates that these principles be applied to Pakistan urgently.  A rupture of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship would be a serious set back to U.S. objectives in the region.

Click here to read the Spring 2011 issue of the National Strategy Forum Review:

“The U.S.-Pakistan Relationship: Toward a Complementary Strategy”