Featured Articles
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The Caracas Economic Development Zone (CEDZ): A Plan for Rebuilding Rule of Law in Venezuela
This brief proposes establishing a Caracas Economic Development Zone (CEDZ), modeled on the Dubai International Financial Centre. Located in or near the capital, the CEDZ would operate under a distinct commercial code, foreign-staffed courts, and internationally recognized arbitration mechanisms. Governance options include a domestically anchored authority or a framework backed by international oversight, with the latter offering greater investor confidence. The objective is to create a narrow jurisdiction with credible legal standards to enable early investment under controlled conditions, and to use that enclave as a scalable mechanism for rebuilding rule of law
By Carlos Roa
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Remind The Boston Globe that U.S. Ambassadors Represent the President
The Globe claims that State Department is "[r]emoving senior diplomats without cause," but no "cause" is required. Ambassadors can be recalled and replaced by the president at any time if they are not seen as effective messengers or managers.
By Simon Hankinson
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The Benefits of Removing Maduro
Making foreign policy is very often a compromise between supporting one’s values and securing one’s interests, between moral clarity and strategic realism. In removing Nicolas Maduro from power, Donald Trump was able to advance both American values and American interests.
By David Rundell and Michael Gfoeller
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Vetting of 80,000+ Afghans Brought to America Failed the National Security Test
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The Ben Franklin Fellowship’s State Department Renovation
Conservative career officials are fighting to break the globalist-woke mindset that is deeply ingrained in the U.S. foreign affairs bureaucracy.
By Phillip Linderman
Featured White Paper Series:
Peace Perspectives
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Building Lasting Peace and a Strategic Economic Partnership with Nigeria
By: Rob Quiroz, Sterling Tilley, Tibor Nagy, Mahvash Siddiqui, and Piero Tozzi
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Kenya: Support for Border Security and Trade Facilitation
By Brendan Heavey
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Africa: Building Economic and Security Partnerships
By Chakotay and Sterling Tilley
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Vietnam: A Strategic Partner for Peace and Security in Southeast Asia
By Chakotay
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Southeast Asia: Rebuilding a Peaceful Political-Military Alliance
By Sterling Tilley and Nathan R. Price
BFF Wins Prestigious Heritage Foundation Innovation Prize
$100,000 Grant to Implement the JUNTO Project
Explore our principles
The Ben Franklin Fellowship is a unique foreign affairs community — putting America's national interest first in U.S. diplomacy and international affairs.
Foreign Policy in the U.S. National Interest
Secretary Rubio: The World Over August 7, 2025
Deputy Secretary Landau Speaks on America First Foreign Policy
Deputy Secretary Chris Landau addresses the broken Global Refugee & Asylum System
Vice President Vance Speaks at the Southern Border
The First Purpose of Foreign Policy | Michael Anton
President Reagan's Recipe for Peace
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