The Second Institute Division
The Institute proudly announces the creation of a new Division for Research in Strategy and Politics (DRSP). It is headed by Dr. David Wurmser in IASPS/Washington, D.C. Located in the heart of Washington near the White House and across the street from the Capital Hilton, the Institute's Washington office will now have a threefold mission: to demonstrate a constant, physical Institute presence within the policy-making community in Washington; to serve as a home-base for Koret fellows who are completing their internships in Congress; and to house the newly created Division for Research in Strategy and Politics.
DRSP will build on the work done over eight years by the Division for Economic Policy Research (DEPR) - which investigates Israel's economic potential once the socialist structures that prevent development of a growing, vibrant, and self-sustaining economy (which is essential for long-term survival) are dismantled. Understanding the price Israel will suffer if it fails to reform, the new division will analyze the tremendous political, cultural, and strategic possibilities that would be unlocked for Israel once it reforms and secures itself by embracing free-market Zionism.
The new division will have three publication series: Research Papers in Strategy, Research Papers in Politics, and a Quarterly. The division's first strategic report, entitled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm," was hand delivered in early July to the new Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by Richard Perle, and received wide-spread attention in The Wall Street Journal on the eve of Netanyahu's U.S. visit.
The report outlined a plan for securing Israel's streets and northern border by returning the initiative to the Israel Defense Forces, for shaping the regional environment to Israel's advantage by moving from "comprehensive peace" to a balance of power concept and containment of Syria. The report calls for forging a new American-Israeli alliance based not on the peace process and its territorial issues but on Israeli self-reliance. This will reestablish respect for Israel and allow for closer cooperation on issues of mutual concern to Israel and the U.S. in the region, such as developing anti-ballistic missile defense.
The division's U.S. director, Dr. Wurmser, comes to the Institute from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. A scholar of Israeli and Arab politics, Dr. Wurmser has published extensively on the Arab-Israeli peace process, political trends in the Arab world, and the condition of Zionism.