# American Enterprise Institute The oldest major conservative think tank (founded 1938) and the institutional home of the pre-Trump conservative intellectual establishment. AEI represents the fusionist tradition: free enterprise, limited government, strong defense, and individual liberty — the policy consensus that governed the Republican Party from Goldwater through Romney, and that the MAGA movement has partially rejected. AEI's $55-60M annual budget supports research across economics, defense, social policy, and governance. Its scholars have included some of the most influential conservative intellectuals of the last half-century, from [[Irving Kristol]] (neoconservatism's godfather) to [[Charles Murray]] (*[[The Bell Curve]]*, *[[Coming Apart]]*) to Frederick Kagan (the Iraq surge architect). ## The Pre-Trump Conservative Mind AEI embodies the conservatism that Heritage has partially abandoned and Claremont explicitly repudiates: - **Free trade** (vs. MAGA tariffs) - **Immigration reform** (vs. MAGA restriction) - **International alliances** (vs. MAGA skepticism of NATO) - **Institutional norms** (vs. Claremont's "Flight 93" exceptionalism) - **Expertise-driven policy** (vs. populist anti-elitism) This makes AEI a critical reference point: it shows what Republican policy looked like *before* [[the New Right]] turn, and where the intellectual fault lines now run within the right. ## Key Scholars and Alumni | Person | AEI Role | Significance | |--------|----------|-------------| | **Irving Kristol** | Resident scholar | "Godfather of neoconservatism," *[[The Public Interest]]* | | **Charles Murray** | W.H. Brady Scholar | *[[The Bell Curve]]*, *[[Coming Apart]]* — welfare reform intellectual architect | | **Frederick Kagan** | Resident scholar | Iraq surge architect, defense hawk | | **Yuval Levin** | Senior fellow | *National Affairs* editor, "reform conservative," bridge to New Right | | **Arthur Brooks** | President (2009-2019) | "Conservative happiness" brand, expanded AEI's public profile | | **Robert Doar** | President (2020-present) | Poverty/social policy focus | | **Norm Ornstein** | Resident scholar (departed) | Congressional expert, increasingly critical of GOP — his departure symbolized AEI's tension with Trumpism | | **[[John Bolton]]** | Senior fellow | Ultra-hawk, Trump NSA (briefly), represents neocon foreign policy | | **Christina Hoff Sommers** | Resident scholar | "Factual feminist," anti-feminist-overreach, GamerGate-adjacent | ## AEI vs. Heritage vs. Claremont | Dimension | AEI | Heritage | Claremont | |-----------|-----|---------|-----------| | **Era** | Cold War–Reagan–Bush | Reagan–Tea Party–MAGA | Trump–post-liberal | | **Philosophy** | Fusionism (markets + tradition + defense) | Institutional conservatism | Post-liberalism | | **Policy style** | Academic research | Governance blueprints | Intellectual doctrine | | **Relationship to Trump** | Uneasy accommodation | Pragmatic alliance (P2025) | Ideological alignment | | **Budget** | $55-60M | $100M+ | ~$10M | | **Influence** | Declining among base, strong among elites | Strongest in policy machinery | Strongest among New Right cadres | ## Defense Connection AEI has historically been one of the most hawkish think tanks on defense: - Frederick Kagan's analysis shaped the 2007 Iraq surge - AEI defense scholars advocate for higher defense spending, forward deployment, and alliance maintenance - Unlike the defense *tech* ecosystem (which is about Silicon Valley disrupting legacy contractors), AEI's defense work supports the *traditional* defense establishment ## See Also - [[Heritage Foundation]] — Movement right counterpart - [[Claremont Institute]] — New Right counterpart - [[Hudson Institute]] — Fellow defense-hawk establishment tank - [[Hoover Institution]] — Stanford-based conservative counterpart - [[Bradley Foundation]] — Funder - [[Think Tank Ecosystem]] — Full think tank landscape