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About

American Purpose is a magazine, media project, and intellectual community. In the writing we publish, the podcasts we produce, and the conversations we host, we have three broad goals:

First, we aim to defend and promote liberal democracy in the United States. We use “liberal” not in the modern American political sense, but in the classical sense. Liberal values—including equal protection under the rule of law, basic civil liberties, and respect for the rights of the individual and for the autonomy of institutions of civil society—once enjoyed nearly universal consent but have recently come under attack on both the left and the right. We also intend to examine the tensions within liberal democracy that leave it vulnerable to these attacks. We are proponents of reform and revitalization.

Second, we seek to better understand and address the challenges to liberal democracy abroad. As the United States has stepped back from its longstanding role as leader of the world’s liberal democracies, we have seen liberal democracy threatened by both authoritarian regimes and populist governments. We believe such developments present a grave danger to American security and prosperity.

Finally, because we believe that the political and cultural issues of the moment cannot be separated from questions of enduring importance—about the ends and purposes of life, about how to live well and wisely together, about beauty and consolation—we intend to offer criticism and commentary on history and biography, high art and pop culture, science and technology.

Editorial Board

Francis Fukuyama, chair
Hiro Aida
Robert Asahina
Patrick Chamorel
Daniel Chirot
Eliot A. Cohen
Tyler Cowen
Larry Diamond
Eric S. Edelman
Katherine C. Epstein
Richard Thompson Ford
William A. Galston
Adam Garfinkle
Roya Hakakian
Zena Hitz
G. John Ikenberry
Josef Joffe
Craig Kennedy
Michael Mandelbaum
Michael McFaul
Azar Nafisi
Ana Palacio
Nicole Penn
Carla Anne Robbins
Jonas Rolett
Lilia Shevtsova
Daniel Stid

Team

Jeffrey Gedmin, co-founder and editor-in-chief
Carolyn Stewart, managing editor
Rebecca Burgess, senior editor
Suzanne Garment, senior editor
Michelle High, senior editor
Sydnee Lipset, editor, arts & culture
Laura Silverman, web manager and podcast editor
Richard Aldous, host of “Bookstack”
Ringo Harrison, research associate
Robert Steven Mack, research associate

Contributing Editors

James Barnett
Martha Bayles
David Blankenhorn
Ellen Bork
Hal Brands
Tara Isabella Burton
Ian Marcus Corbin
Giselle Donnelly
Mathilde Fasting
Nils Gilman
Devorah Goldman
Zach Graves
Anna Grzymala-Busse
Shadi Hamid
Ryan Patrick Hanley
Matt Hanson
Alexandra Hudson
Morten Høi Jensen
Michael Jindra
Adrian Karatnycky
Sean Keeley
Adam Keiper
Daniel Kennelly
James Kirchick
Thomas Koenig
David J. Kramer
Didi Kuo
Yuval Levin
Tod Lindberg
R. Jay Magill, Jr.
Laure Mandeville
Damir Marusic
Thomas O. Melia
Joshua Muravchik
Luis Parrales
Minxin Pei
Marc F. Plattner
Peter Pomerantsev
Dalibor Roháč
Gabriel Schoenfeld
Aaron Sibarium
Peter Skerry
Henry Sokolski
Ben Trachtenberg
Algis Valiunas

Honor Roll of Financial Contributors

$100,000 – $500,000

  • The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

$25,000 – $99,999

  • The Achelis & Bodman Foundation
  • Carnegie Corporation of New York

$15,000 – $24,999

  • Paul and Elizabeth DeRosa
  • Michael Jindra

$5,000 – $14,999

  • Anonymous
  • Barbara Barrett
  • Martha Bayles and Peter Skerry
  • Daniel Chirot
  • Fred Clark
  • Martha Enthoven and Daniel Stid
  • Francis Fukuyama
  • Karen Guberman and Craig Kennedy
  • Anonymous
  • Marc Leland

$1,000 – $4,999

  • Jacqueline de Chollet
  • Diane Edelman
  • Robert and Diane Freedman
  • Miriam and William Galston
  • Charles and Toby Gati
  • Richard Kraemer
  • Roger Leeds
  • Anonymous
  • Sydnee Lipset
  • Michael Mandelbaum
  • Thomas Melia
  • Wolfgang Pordzik
  • Carla Anne Robbins
  • Paul Stebbins

Up to $999

  • Christy Abraham
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  • Connie S. Akins
  • Deborah Alexander
  • Michael Allen
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  • Mark Andreasen
  • Bennett Andres
  • Anonymous
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  • Jarrard Ashmore
  • Dwight Austin
  • Nina Auteur
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  • David Bartz
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  • David Morrison
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  • MSMD LLC
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  • Avram Nemetz
  • Gayl Ness
  • David Newcomer
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  • Fred Norman
  • Jacqueline Oelfke
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We are extremely grateful to our paid supporting members, as well