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In the News

Sep 8, 2021

Ashford in Vox: “I think it’s the rise of China, and more broadly the fact that America is in relative decline … that is where we start hearing some talk of constraints.”

By Atlantic Council

On September 8, Ashford was quoted in a Vox article by Zack Beauchamp on the decline of liberal interventionism. “‘I don’t actually think that the failures of foreign policy in the Middle East alone were enough to catalyze this shift’ against interventionism, says Emma Ashford, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank. ‘I […]

Afghanistan
Conflict

In the News

Sep 4, 2021

Ashford in The Week: The limits of power

By Atlantic Council

On September 4, Emma Ashford was quoted in the editor’s letter for the new edition of The Week, focusing on the Afghan withdrawal. “The U.S. had searing proof of that in Vietnam, but the shock of 9/11 created a national amnesia that the Bush administration exploited in trying to nation-build Afghanistan, and then, more recklessly, […]

Afghanistan
Conflict

In the News

Sep 3, 2021

Ashford in The Guardian: Yesterday’s war: why Raab did not foresee Afghanistan catastrophe

By Atlantic Council

On September 3, Emma Ashford was quoted in The Guardian on the fallout of the Afghan withdrawal. “Not surprisingly, there is now return of fire in the US from the many supporters of Biden’s decision. Emma Ashford, a leading advocate of a new grand strategy of US restraint, said: ‘If this episode pushes America’s European […]

Afghanistan
Conflict

Emma Ashford was a resident senior fellow with the New American Engagement Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, which focused on challenging the prevailing assumptions governing US foreign policy and sought to develop effective solutions that preserved America’s security and prosperity. She was also a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point.

Emma’s work focused on questions of grand strategy, international security, and the future of US foreign policy. She had expertise in the politics of Russia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Previously, she was a research fellow in defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute, where she worked on a variety of issues including the US-Saudi relationship, sanctions policy, US policy towards Russia, and US foreign policy and grand strategy more broadly. She founded and co-hosted the Power Problems podcast. Her long-form writing has been featured in publications such as Foreign Affairs, the Texas National Security Review, and Strategic Studies Quarterly, and her opinion writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, Vox, The National Interest, and War on the Rocks, among others.

Ashford writes a bi-weekly column, “It’s Debatable,” for Foreign Policy, and is a regular contributor to Inkstick. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and holds a PhD in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.