“Politics stops at the water’s edge” – Senator Arthur Vandenberg 1947
Access to insightful analysis and commentary on news about U.S. foreign policy and international relations has diminished in recent years, with news outlets reducing their presence overseas and cutting back the staff available to cover these topics. What is presented is usually from the perspective of how it might be used in domestic politics to favor one party or another. Although the effects these issues have on Americans are significant, the means and context in which policy is formed and implemented is often obscured behind layers of bureaucracy and professional “expertise” that makes it difficult to access and impossible to understand.
At the Water’s Edge was founded to provide an outlet for practitioners to share their perspectives on global issues affecting America, separate from any party affiliation and unconstrained by the priorities and requirements of the traditional news cycle. It has two goals. One is to provide those directly involved in the day to day implementation of foreign policy a place to share their ideas and perspectives on the current state of affairs and how to improve both policy and the process by which it is implemented. The other is to help inform an interested public by placing key events in the context in which they occur and assessing the feasibility of policy proposals, with a healthy appreciation of the capabilities and limitations of the people and institutions that inform their creation and carry them out.
It is our hope that this conversation will provide meaningful insights for practitioners and increase understanding between the nation and those who represent them while carrying out the policies of the state on their behalf.