Fourth Freedom Forum

The Fourth Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan, nonprofit operating foundation that seeks to provide discussion, development, and dissemination of ideas focused on solutions to global security threats. Its primary focus is the use of economic incentives and targeted sanctions to establish the rule of law, provide a reliable and humane system of enforcement, and promote international cooperation for the progress of civilized society. The Forum was founded in 1982 by Howard S. Brembeck ^[1] to advance the idea that economic power, not military power, is the power that rules the world.

Background

The name of the organization comes from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Annual Message to Congress as he outlined his vision for four essential freedoms that all people deserve – freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear of war.^[2][3]

Programs

The Forum's Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation works to promote counterterrorism cooperation among a wide range of government and nongovernmental entities within and across regions around the world. The Forum has worked in East Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, and focuses on raising awareness of the threat; training officials to share information more effectively with their counterparts in neighboring countries; and promoting best practices for protecting human rights and upholding the law while countering terrorism.^[4][5]

The Forum and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame formed a partnership to create the Sanctions and Security Research Program that played a key role internationally by recommending the shift from general trade sanctions that can harm civilian populations to the use of more targeted measures (also called smart sanctions).^[6] Today smart sanctions are employed with increasing frequency and sophistication by the U.S. as well as by the UN, the European Union, and the African Union^[7]

The Forum has also consistently focused on protecting national security without the use of weapons of mass destruction. The Forum collaborates with senior military officers and other experts to stimulate discussions in local communities across the country and have engaged community leaders, policy experts, and ecumenical groups to encourage the U.S. and other governments to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons.^[8] The Forum publishes articles, reports, and books assessing the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and offers practical suggestions to reduce or eliminate these dangers.^[9]

References