Streit Council

Streit Council for a Union of Democracies
Formation	(1939); 2004
Type of Organization	transatlantic relations think tank
Headquarters	420 7th Street SE, Washington, DC
Location	Washington, DC
Leader Title	Executive Director
Leader Name	Tiziana Stella, Ph.D.
Website	www.streitcouncil.org

The Streit Council for a Union of Democracies /ˈstraɪt/ is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit foreign-policy organization working toward closer cooperation and deeper integration among the US and Europe, as well as OECD democracies. It researches transatlantic and other inter-democratic institutions, as well as global problems and issues that might benefit from integration among democracies.Combining academic research with policy work, the Streit Council provides a non-partisan forum where policymakers and scholars explore new approaches to inter-democracy relations and their impact on global stability.

History

Formed in 2004, the Streit Council is a successor to Federal Union Inc.,^[1] founded by Clarence Streit with the 1939 publication of Union Now: A Proposal for a Federal Union of the Leading Democracies. Alarmed by the rise of the Hitler-Mussolini-Hirohito totalitarian forces and the failure of Western democracies to agree on measures to halt their aggression, Streit proposed a federal union of democratic nations with a common foreign policy and defense force. He hoped that this federal union would prevent a second world war and expand the area of democratic government. His proposal generated a great deal of discussion: he was featured on the cover of Times magazine and became a frequent guest on top radio programs. He also met with presidents and prime ministers, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Federal Union members and supporters were among the leaders of organizations that, in close cooperation with the Roosevelt Administration, helped bring the United States from neutrality to intervention in World War II. After Pearl Harbor, the Streit proposal became one aimed at winning the war and the peace. It also helped pave the way for the formation of the United Nations.

In 1949, Federal Union members founded a sister organization, the Atlantic Union Committee (AUC),^[2] a political action group that played a significant role in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Members included US Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts, Secretary of War Robert Patterson, Under Secretary of State Will Clayton, Elmo Roper, and many European leaders. The Federal Union was renamed the Association to Unite the Democracies (AUD) in 1985 and became the first Western organization to foresee expansion of the EU and NATO in the event of an end of Communism.

The Streit Council, an organization working toward freedom and union, democracy, and effective government, became a successor organization of the AUD in 2004.

Leadership

Richard Conn Henry, professor at Johns Hopkins University, serves as the current President of the Streit Council Board of Directors. Solomon Passy, member of the Bulgarian Parliament (1990–1991, 2001, 2005–2009) and former Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs (2001–2005), serves as Honorary President. Don Dennis, former Vice President of the Foreign Policy Association, is the Vice President. Tiziana Stella, a specialist in transatlantic relations, NATO, European integration, US foreign policy and federalism, acts as the Executive Director, responsible for all major projects, including overall program and research planning and management, as well as staff management. A full list of board members and biographical information is available at the Streit Council Website.

Publications

In addition to Union Now, Clarence Streit published several other books and documents, including Freedom's Frontier: Atlantic Union Now in 1939, "King Nation or King Citizen" in 1960, and "The Sovereignty You Gain by Atlantic Union" in 1961.^[3]

In 2008, the Streit Council provided the English translation of former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur's book For a Union of the West,^[4] published by the Hoover Institution. Board members have also published their own research, including The First Resort of Kings: American Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century by Richard T. Arndt and Foreign Policy in a Democracy: The Role of the Foreign Policy Association by Donald Philips Dennis.

Since 1946, the Streit Council has published a quarterly journal, Freedom & Union, which features articles by academics and policymakers.

See also

• European Union
• NATO
• OECD
• World Bank
• Atlantic Club of Bulgaria
• Atlantic Council of the United States
• Transatlantic relations

References

External links

• http://www.streitcouncil.org/
• http://blog.streitcouncil.org/