Key Facts
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About
The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (IASPS) was an Israeli-American neoconservative think tank founded in 1984 by Professor Robert Loewenberg, with offices in Washington, D.C., and Jerusalem. Active primarily during the 1990s and maintaining limited activities until around 2017, IASPS served as an intellectual bridge between the Israeli Right—particularly the Likud party—and American neoconservatives. It focused on Middle East policy, U.S. national security, broader strategic and political issues in the region, and the intersection of free-market economic reform with hawkish national security approaches. The organization promoted limited government, a balance of power strategy, and critiqued Israeli socialist statism and U.S. foreign aid, which it argued hindered Israeli economic self-reliance.
IASPS aimed to influence policy in both Israel and the United States through hawkish recommendations, including aggressive military strategies and preemptive actions against perceived threats from states such as Iraq, Syria, and Iran. It emphasized regime change and unilateral actions to reshape the Middle East. The think tank drew on expertise from former U.S. government officials and Israeli policymakers, including key figures like Douglas Feith and David Wurmser. It also managed the Society of Americans for National Existence and participated in training Israeli university graduates for roles in the Knesset and U.S. Congress.
IASPS gained significant notoriety for its 1996 policy paper, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm," prepared at the request of incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Authored by a study group led by Richard Perle with contributions from Feith and Wurmser, the document advocated that Israel break from the Oslo peace process and the "land for peace" framework, pursue proactive strategies to weaken hostile neighbors—including advocating the removal of Saddam Hussein—and foster alliances to secure its security interests. This paper influenced Netanyahu's early policies and later resonated in U.S. foreign policy under the George W. Bush administration, particularly in the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War, as many of its contributors held high-level U.S. government positions.
IASPS's work was controversial, criticized for promoting destabilizing interventions, prioritizing Israeli security interests in ways that strained U.S.-Arab relations, and serving as an intellectual source for neoconservative policies that contributed to the Iraq War. Its legacy persists through the impact of the "Clean Break" strategy on Middle East policy debates.