Conservative Movement Profile: The American Enterprise Institute

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) is one of the most influential conservative and neo-conservative think-tanks in Washington D.C. Founded in 1943 and gaining reputation in the 1970’s and 80’s, the Institute emerged to prominence with a clear vision for advancing the principles of free enterprise capitalism, limited government, private enterprise, and individual responsibility.

Once praised by President Ronald Reagan who said “[no think tank] has been more influential than the American Enterprise Institute,” today AEI is led by President Christopher DeMuth as a private, non-partisan, and not-for-profit organization. The Institute’s impressive list of fellows include notable and influential political figures John Bolton, Lynne Cheney, Newt Gingrich, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Frederick W. Kagan, Michael Novak, Paul Wolfowitz, and Leon D. Kass.

AEI is located in Washington, DC with a staff of 190 resident and visiting scholars and fellows, research and administrative assistants, editorial and conference staff and others. The Institute publishes the research of its resident and visiting scholars in short publications, monographs, and books from its AEI Press. Beyond written publications, the Institute also hosts events such as book forums and panel discussions that are open to the public and often daily or week.

Recent events include “Can Consumers Save Medicare,” “From Brown to ‘Bong Hits’: Assesssing Half a Century of Judicial Involvement in Education” and Session Eight of the series “AEI Election Watch 2008.”

Beyond in-house events and speakers, the Institute provides a broad and deep amount of research accessible on their website. Short publications include papers, speeches, co-ops, newsletters, and government testimony on all research topics including government, economics, social welfare, and politics. Also offered are podcasts, webcasts, and video and transcripts of conferences and events.

Students looking for internships should be aware of AEI’s competitive, highly selective, but very rewarding internship program. Rated by the Princeton Review, Random House Guide to Internships, and Vault Guide to Internships as one of the top 100 internships in America, the program places students with renowned scholars, economists, and policy figures to gain experience in areas of policy, research, and publishing.

For more information, please see:

Home: http://www.aei.org/default.asp?filter=all

Events: http://www.aei.org/events/filter.all/events.asp

Short Publications: http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all/pub_listing.asp