Michael R. Kraig, Ph.D.
mkraig@stanleyfoundation.org
563-264-6853
Dr. Michael Kraig is director of Policy Analysis and Dialogue at the Stanley Foundation in Muscatine, Iowa. In this role, he is currently managing the overall conceptual and substantive direction of several foundation initiatives: Asian Security; Nuclear Weapons, Nonproliferation, and Energy; the United States and Rising Powers; United Nations Effectiveness; US and Global Security; and US-Middle East Relations. These ongoing programs are centered on widening the policy debate in the United States and within foreign capitals by discussing multilateral, cooperative policy options that could make both the United States and the world more prosperous and secure. Kraig has a Ph.D. in political science from the University at Buffalo, New York, with a concentration in international relations, US foreign policy, and comparative politics.
In addition to managing overall foundation policy programming, Kraig is continuing his own analytical work on Middle East Security and US national security strategy. This work includes frequent presentations to US citizens, US policymakers, and foreign leaders in Europe and the developing world. He has presented his own findings and the results of Stanley Foundation policy dialogues at meetings and institutes in Berlin, Rome, Paris, London, and all Middle East capitals from Egypt to Iran, as well as lectures for student leaders in Texas (Rice University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Dallas-Ft. Worth, St. Mary's College in San Antonio) and in Ohio (Wesleyan University and Bowling Green University). Kraig has authored numerous policy briefs, journal articles, and book chapters on these issues, in addition to being guest editor for a special fall issue of Middle East Policy titled "Alternative Strategies for Gulf Security" (see publications below).
Prior to his current position, Kraig was a policy program officer and implemented major foundation projects on US security strategy, Persian Gulf security, global disarmament regimes, and US-Iranian relations. This involved the creation of a new "Gulf Security" initiative in 2003 incorporating several multilateral Track II dialogues in Dubai, UAE, between Iranian, Arab, Asian, European, and US officials and experts; organization of US-Iran bilateral dialogues, including small-group talks in Berlin between former officials from Germany, America, and Iran to produce a "draft outline for rapprochement"; and management of an independent task force on Strategies for US National Security (Washington, DC, 2002-2003) led by former Pentagon official Lawrence Korb. Kraig also led the marketing of the task force results via several "in-house briefings" at the RAND Corporation, the US General Accounting Office, US Congressional Research Service, US Institute of Peace, Georgetown and George Washington Universities, and National Defense University. Kraig also helped organize numerous citizen outreach panels with Lawrence Korb around the issue of US security strategies in Maine, Ohio, Montana, Florida, Wisconsin, Texas, and Minnesota in fall 2004. Finally, in the period 2000-2003, Kraig organized several Stanley Foundation global policy dialogues between UN diplomats, IGO leaders, and US policymakers on issues relating to WMD arms control and disarmament regimes.
Prior to joining the Stanley Foundation, Kraig interned with the US General Accounting Office on nuclear weapons issues in the post-Cold War era and presented findings on South Asian nuclear arsenals at the United Nations 2000 NPT Review Conference in New York. In 1998 he was awarded the Herbert Scoville, Jr. Peace Fellowship for work in an arms control-focused NGO, which he spent at the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) in Washington, DC. He also consulted BASIC on "Missed Opportunities for Conflict Prevention in Kosovo: An American and European Evaluation," involving fact-finding interviews with principal US decision makers and policy implementers from the period 1990-1998. From 1999-2000, he worked as a writer and editor for the Arms Control Reporter, a flagship publication on all arms control and disarmament-related events by the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a graduate student, Kraig participated in high-level seminars on rational choice theory and international relations at the Merriam Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Hoover Institute of Stanford University.
PUBLICATIONS
Book Chapters
"A Demand Side Strategy for Regional Security and Nonproliferation in the Persian Gulf," in James Russell, ed., Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East: Directions and Policy Options in the New Century, as part of the US Naval Postgraduate School Initiatives in Strategic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan: New York, NY, http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=1403970254.
"Putting Iraq in a Regional and Global Context," in Ellen Laipson and Maureen S. Steinbruner, eds., Iraq and America: Choices and Consequences, pp. 110-128, The Henry L. Stimson Center: Washington, DC, http://www.stimson.org/pub.cfm?id=309.
"Balance of Power and Balance of Interests: Building Coalitions for International Peace," in Mohammad Tajik and Kabak Khabiri, eds., Coalition for Peace, Presidential Center for Strategic Studies, Tehran, Iran.
Journal
Guest Editor, "Alternative Strategies for Gulf Security," Middle East Policy, (special issue fall 2004) Vol. 11, No. 3, http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/initiatives/gsi/journals.php.
Journal Articles
"Forging a New Security Order for the Persian Gulf," Middle East Policy, Vol. 13, No. 1 (spring 2006), http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol13/0603_Kraig_ft.asp.
"The 2001-2002 Indo-Pakistani Crisis: Exposing the Limits of Coercive Diplomacy," coauthored with Sumit Ganguly, Security Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2 (April-June 2005), pp. 290-324, Taylor and Francis Group: London, UK.
"Assessing Alternative Security Frameworks for the Persian Gulf," Middle East Policy, Vol. 11, No. 3 (fall 2004), Middle East Policy Council and Blackwell Publishing: Washington, DC, and Malden, MA, http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/initiatives/gsi/papers/mepc_kraig.pdf.
"The Political and Strategic Imperatives of Nuclear Deterrence in South Asia," India Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (January 2003), pp. 1-48, London: Frank Cass Publishers.
"Nuclear Deterrence in the Developing World: A Game-Theoretic Treatment," Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 36, No. 2 (March 1999), pp. 141-167, Sage Publications.
Stanley Foundation Publications
Forging a New Security Order in the Persian Gulf," policy analysis, January 2006, http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/reports/pab06pg.pdf.
The United States, Iran, and Saudi Arabia: Necessary Steps Toward a New Gulf Security Order, policy dialogue based on a roundtable dialogue October 20-22, 2005, Airlie Center, Virginia, http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/reports/SPC05PGpb.pdf.
Realistic Solutions for Resolving the Iranian Nuclear Crisis, policy analysis, January 2005, http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/initiatives/gsi/analysis.php.
Strategies for US National Security: Winning the Peace in the 21st Century, coedited with Lawrence Korb, report of an independent task force (discussions held September 2002-May 2003; report published in October 2003), http://sns.stanleyfoundation.org/taskforce/index.html.
US Strategies for Regional Security, coedited with James Henderson, conference reports and commissioned research papers from dialogues on regional security dilemmas in Europe, South Asia, Northeast Asia, and the Middle East, October 25-27, 2001, Airlie Conference Center, (February 2002), http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/reports/SPC01.pdf.
Strengthening the Nonproliferation Regime: The Challenge of Regional Nuclear Arsenals, ed., report on the United Nations Issues Conference (event held February 23-25, 2001; report published in June 2001), http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/reports/Issues01.pdf.
Ballistic Missile Defense and Northeast Asian Security: Views from Washington, Beijing, and Tokyo, coedited with Sherry Gray, report on discussions between Chinese-US officials and Japanese-US officials (bilateral dialogues held November-December 2000; report published in April 2001), http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/reports/BMD01.pdf.
Short Articles
"What Role Has U.S. Played?—Washington's Policy and the Mideast Crisis," DefenseNews, Vol. 21, No. 31 (July 31, 2006).
"The NPT: Can this treaty be saved?" coauthored with Richard H. Stanley, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Vol. 59, No. 5 (September-October 2003), pp. 59-65.
"An Export Control Policy for Iran: Dealing with the Latent Proliferation Threat," The Monitor: International Perspectives on Nonproliferation, Vol. 8, No. 2 (summer 2002), Georgia Center for International Trade and Security (CITS), University of Georgia, http://www.uga.edu/cits/documents/pdf/monitor/monitor_su_2002.pdf, pp. 18-22.
Unpublished Conference Paper
"The Revolution in Military Affairs and US Nuclear Weapons Operations: An Analysis and Critique." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International School on Disarmament and Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO), Rovereto, Italy, August 1999.