Robert M. Gates Initiative in American Statecraft

“This initiative grows out of my belief that our victory in the Cold War, because we avoided a military confrontation, was determined by America’s effective and integrated strategic use of non-military instruments of power, above all economic power, technology, strategic communications, development assistance, security assistance and more.

While the Gates Forums provide the roadmap to restoring these capabilities, the Gates Initiative in American Statecraft will educate and train a new generation of public servants to lead these institutions.”

— Robert M. Gates

Over the past four years, the GGPC has invested more than $3 million to support the Gates Forums and related research and curriculum-development efforts.

The Gates Initiative in American Statecraft (GIAS) builds on these foundations and expands on existing research and educational offerings with the aim of preparing a new generation of U.S. citizens and public servants to embrace complexity and lead in a topsy-turvy world.

Looking ahead, the GGPC will establish a national consortium of leaders from academia, government, and the private sector with the goal of launching similar initiatives at universities around the country dedicated to the close study and revitalization of America’s best civic and statecraft traditions.

Directed by Eric Brown and Ryan Musto, the GIAS built on four pillars: the GGPC’s annual Gates Forums, in-depth policy and academic research, undergraduate coursework, and fellowships both for students and senior policy officials.

At the heart of GIAS is W&M’s Global Scholars Program in American Statecraft—a year-long, cohort-based learning program that delves deep into the past and future of U.S. foreign policy and engagements across Europe, Asia, and the Global South in an era of intensifying geopolitical competition and conflict.

The American Statecraft program has been developed through a close partnership between W&M’s GRI, the W&M Washington Center, the Reves Center for International Studies, and the Public Policy Program.

In addition to professional development, sustained engagement with policymakers, and matching students with mentors, the program encompasses three courses:

Robert M. Gates and the U.S. Exercise of Power
This Fall Term course draws upon insights from Secretary Gates’s book Exercise of Power, Gates Forums, and interviews and culminates in a research project using materials from Gates’s papers.

U.S. Statecraft and the World
This Winter Term course takes students abroad for ten days to study how U.S. foreign policy is perceived—and shaped—on the front lines of great power competition. Students will engage with foreign officials and scholars and explore in-depth the major trends and dynamics shaping American foreign policy and the world at-large.

The Foundations and Futures of American Statecraft
This Spring Term course surveys the history and future of American statecraft, including Big Power competition and other major geopolitical trends that the U.S. will be dealing with in decades ahead. Students will learn also learn about policy research methodologies, conduct research, and have opportunities to engage policymakers in Washington, D.C., and beyond.

Statecraft education will help ensure that American power is used well and wisely.

Applied Research

In addition to serving as the research arm of the GGPC, the Gates Initiative exists to create new knowledge and new curricula on U.S. power, strategy and statecraft in the twenty-first century.

GIAS involves student scholars in all of its research. In the 2026–2027 academic year, the GIAS is leading two Working Groups focused on the redevelopment of the U.S.’s non-military instruments of power.

The GIAS has also established the Statecraft Simulations Group, which runs high-end simulations for policymakers on the next-order consequences of U.S. foreign economic decision-making. The simulations group is also designing a new game exploring great power competition in the Global South.

The GIAS is furthermore home to several other research efforts, including on Applied History, the geopolitics of disruptive technologies, and on long-term thinking and U.S. strategy.

Gates Student Fellowships
These fellowships are open to exceptional students working on international security affairs and sponsored research projects on the redevelopment U.S. instruments of power, applied history, and technology.

Mentored by experts, Student Fellows conduct research and present findings to the foreign policy community at a signature event in Washington, D.C.

Gates Senior Statecraft Fellowships
These fellowships will bring several mid-career or senior policymakers to campus every academic year to mentor Gates Student Fellows, give public talks, and work with students and faculty.