Home  About  Chapters  Policy  Publications  Join  Jobs  Donate  Blog  News from the National Office Post-Election Center TI Launched Roosevelt LiveBlogs the Presidential Debate On Campus Midwest Regional Fall Policy Workshop Blum speaks at Vermont Campus Compact conference Coverage of the Johns Hopkins Chapter Launch > More "As for accomplishments, I just did what I had to do as things came along." — Eleanor Roosevelt    Increase America's Soft Power > Roosevelt Home > Roosevelt Challenges > Increase America's Soft Power Your name: Your email: Recipient's name: Recipient's email: Message: To prevent spam, please enter the first letter of the recipient's email and the first letter of the recipient's name in the box below (for example, if the name is "John Doe" and the email is "bigjohn@johndoe.com", you would enter "jb"): By Kirti Datla Categories: Human rights, International development, International security The Challenge: develop long term policies which engage the international community and enhance America's ability to operate effectively within it. Important Progressive: accomplishing this challenge will contribute directly and specifically to the progressive values embodied by Roosevelt's Statement of Principles Meaningful: our contribution to this challenge will produce a real change in the lives of our fellow human beings. One can imagine a world in which the challenge is solved, and such a world is better than the one we live in today. Relevant: the challenge is relevant to the social contract project that Roosevelt has embarked upon The Roosevelt Principles state "In a democratic society, people realize their own power through inclusive communities founded on mutual respect, responsibility, and compassion. Within those communities, people must be able to organize to pursue shared goals and aspirations." Those words hold true for the international sphere as well. It is obvious that in any community, there needs to be mutual respect, established modes of operation, and common goals for progress to be made. Innovative We're looking for policy challenges where innovation is needed: where there isn't already a clear solution or best practices, but solutions can be developed creatively. Our goal is to develop options, not to lobby or advocate for a solution that is already known or to debate among several yes or no outcomes or pre-defined policy choices. Other organizations do the important work of debating and lobbying, that's just not our place in the process. Typically if you're looking at a standard policy debate you can apply what's known as the "Roosevelt Reframe" to develop new strategies to advance shared values. So rather than "should we engage in race-based affirmative action in college admissions" to which the potential answers are "yes" and "no", you can ask "how do we make our colleges more diverse", a goal we hope is shared by those on both sides of that debate. Our standing in the world has changed rapidly in the last decade. In some areas, we are still leaders and in other we have fallen behind. This challenge is about more than a simple "fund the UN" solution but requires serious thought about what America's role in the international system is, how we will approach problems, and who our partners will be. Feasible Approachable: given the level of research and discourse already available and given who else is working on the issue, college students with a range of experience levels and with varied types of expertise can contribute meaningfully to the debate and are likely to think of good ideas. We don't want something so technical only engineering majors can contribute to it, or something that is already dominated by another think tank or advocacy organization. Practical: the challenge is stated as a specific, measurable, and achievable goal, incremental progress toward which could be made by chipping away at the problem at various levels of government. The statement is not too broad or too narrow. One good way to make sure something is a good policy challenge rather than a debate or advocacy problem is to think of what sorts of innovative ideas might be produced for the 25 ideas publication series on that topic. This challenge calls for the development of a "grand strategy" for our generation. This is ambitious but can be tackled in smaller pieces. The goal is to develop coherent approaches to issues so that our actions are consistent. When do we intervene? When do we involve the UN? When do we pull out of international institutions? When do we take the lead on problems and when do we defer to others?   The Roosevelt Institution is a nonpartisan, nonprofit national think tank devoted to bringing students' policy ideas to the policy process. The opinions expressed on this site are exclusively those of its members. DC Headquarters: Roosevelt Institution / 2100 M St NW Suite 610 / Washington, DC 20037 || (202) 833-1359