2027 AEI Winter Honors Program - Several Day Public Policy Seminar in Charleston, SC
The Winter Honors Program at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is an intensive, fully funded educational and professional opportunity for top undergraduate students. This program provides participants the opportunity to connect with the ideas, research, and network of AEI—one of America’s preeminent public policy think tanks—through a multiday seminar led by an AEI scholar or partner instructor.
As conflicts abroad spread and debates about those conflicts intensify at home, sustained reflection is needed on how America should relate to the rest of the world. The early decades of the 21st century augur a future defined by new battlefields, evolving technologies, and novel tactics. Amid all this change, our current situation warrants serious thought about what the future might hold and what the past could teach us. AEI’s 2027 Winter Honors Program will offer five seminars that address what America’s role abroad should be, featuring AEI’s Audrye Wong on China’s economic statecraft, Heather A. Conley on competition in the Arctic, and Todd Harrison on space strategy, Paul D. Miller (Georgetown University) on just-war ethics, and Matthew C. Waxman (Columbia Law School) and Luke J. Schumacher (University of Virginia) on American war powers.
AEI’s Honors Program, offered each winter and summer, assembles diverse cohorts of students from a wide range of campuses, interests, and ideological perspectives to engage in substantive dialogue and debate about the most pressing issues facing the country and world. The program’s core feature is a series of discussion-based seminars that offer participants forums to delve deeply into policy areas of their choice. Outside of the seminars, students will participate in briefings with distinguished guests, high-level networking opportunities and site visits, and meals with other public-spirited students from a wide range of campuses and academic backgrounds. Upon completing an Honors Program seminar, students will receive a stipend and, if they are not a member already, be inducted into AEI’s Collegiate Network. Learn more about the Collegiate Network here.
Location: Charleston, SC
Dates: January 5–9, 2027. The program will begin Tuesday evening and conclude on Saturday morning.
Funding: This is a fully funded program. Participants will receive reimbursement for travel to Charleston, housing for the nights of the program, a $150 stipend, and most meals on class days. Students will receive their stipend and travel reimbursement upon completing the seminar and an exit survey.
Class size: ~15 students per seminar.
Courses
The Money and the Message: China’s Nonmilitary Statecraft | Audrye Wong (AEI)
How has Beijing gained influence throughout the capital cities of the free world? Is its seduction unstoppable? How ought policymakers respond? This course examines how China is seeking global power and influence short of war. It covers three domains of geopolitical competition: (1) economic statecraft, from coercive export controls to carrot-based approaches; (2) propaganda and disinformation campaigns to reshape global discourse in favor of China’s interests; and (3) foreign influence and political interference operations that target political leaders and overseas Chinese communities. Students will explore a range of case studies to understand nonmilitary statecraft tactics, apply analytical frameworks to assess China’s successes and failures, and discuss the corresponding policy responses and challenges for free societies.
Going “Far into the North” to Play the Arctic Great Game | Heather A. Conley (AEI)
The threat to the United States and its NATO allies from Russia and, aspiring polar power, China, is real and growing. Historically, the Arctic has been strategically important, but the region’s climate transformation has intensified competition over new maritime routes and its vast economic potential. The Arctic seabed, polar orbital satellites, governance of the Central Arctic Ocean, missile defense systems, and Greenland’s strategic importance are just a few factors shaping US policy toward the Arctic. This course explores the developing geopolitical competition centered on the Arctic and the role of the US and its NATO allies in this emerging strategic frontier. Through the study of the Arctic’s history; the evolving positions of the US, Russia, and China; the region’s economic potential; and tabletop exercises that explore the contours of potential conflicts, students will be prepared to engage in discussions about the future of the Arctic.
American Security in the Third Space Age | Todd Harrison (AEI)
A renewed competition is unfolding hundreds of miles overhead. Nations and private companies are competing for market share, military advantage, national prestige, and influence over the rules and norms that govern activities in space. The outcomes will shape the space economy and international security environment for decades. Which competitions matter most in the new space race, who is winning, and what is at stake? What does this new era mean for NASA, the Space Force, and US national security? This course examines the historical foundations of space policy, the technical fundamentals that constrain what is possible, the development of the US Space Force, and the strategies that the US and its competitors are pursuing. Students will consider how commerce, science, military power, and geopolitics interact, as well as the choices that will shape America’s position in space in the 21st century and beyond.
America and Just-War Ethics | Paul D. Miller (Georgetown University)
War is hell—but it is also, sometimes, just. This course addresses ethical questions of war and justice, specifically in the context of American military history. Students will begin the course from a theoretical perspective, examining the history of the just-war tradition from late antiquity to the present. By learning from classical and contemporary just-war theorists, students will become familiar with just-war concepts like jus ad bellum, jus in bello, proportionality, and last resort. The latter half of the course will consider a series of case studies about American military interventions, evaluating these conflicts on just-war grounds.
Constitutional War Powers: Past and Present | Matthew C. Waxman (Columbia Law School) and Luke J. Schumacher (University of Virginia)
Who decides when the United States goes to war, how it fights its wars, and on what terms they end? This course examines the constitutional, legal, and historical foundations of war powers in the United States, from the Revolutionary War to the nation’s conflicts in the 21st century. Through a survey of historical episodes, court cases, and scholarly arguments, the course will illuminate the contours of American war powers. Students will gain an appreciation for the unique way the American Constitution distributes war powers and how that distribution has been understood, challenged, and perhaps changed over time. By grappling with questions such as how to balance constitutional fidelity with the exigencies of war, students will emerge from this course better equipped to engage thoughtfully in contemporary war-powers debates.