The New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS) has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to continue funding its Center for Global Affairs (CGA) Scenarios Initiative. This is in addition to a $250,000 grant the Corporation awarded NYU-SCPS in 2009 to fund the CGA Scenarios Initiative, which over the last two years has generated alternate scenarios on countries pivotal to U.S. interests, including China, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. CGA will use the additional funds to develop alternate scenarios on the future of Pakistan and implications for U.S. interests.
“Especially in light of the uncertain and increasingly turbulent, interconnected global political environment, our School is proud and grateful that the CGA Scenarios Initiative has earned the continued support of the Carnegie Corporation, for its contribution to national policy discussions—because the Scenarios present credible alternative ways of thinking about the issues and conditions that may shape the evolution of regions that are vital to U.S. interests and world stability,” said Robert Lapiner, dean of the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
“The Scenarios Initiative creates an environment in which experts are encouraged to depart from the prevailing policy frames to put forward insightful, innovative analyses of future events,” said Patricia Moore Nicholas, project manager, International Peace and Security at the Corporation. “Too often, foreign policy options are arrived at through a process that can dismiss riskier or novel analysis.”
The Scenarios Initiative is led by CGA Clinical Professor Michael Oppenheimer, who has for nearly 40 years provided research, consulting, and policy advice for the U.S. foreign policy and intelligence communities using similar scenarios-building exercises.
“This additional grant affirms the underlying rationale for the award Carnegie made to us two years ago: that there is a need among U.S. foreign policymakers for innovative analysis of pivotal countries that challenges mindsets and delivers unconventional wisdom,” said Oppenheimer. “By assembling the world’s top experts on these countries, building alternate futures through dialogue and research on drivers of change, and interacting with policymakers on implications for U.S. interests, we believe we can reduce surprise and improve the quality of our foreign policy. Pakistan will surely be a test of this proposition.”
Read the press release.
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