Intro
America is entering an era of great power competition for which it is not prepared. How to secure American freedom and prosperity in this more competitive age is the organizing national security question of our time. Yet America has been slow to wake up to the challenge.
To fill that void, we are building The Marathon Initiative.
Our Focus
The mission of The Marathon Initiative is to develop strategies for preserving America’s prosperity, security, and democratic-republican way of life in an era when they are threatened by the return of great power competition.
What We Do
Marathon exists to develop the diplomatic, military, and economic strategies America will need to navigate conditions of protracted competition with great power rivals.
To preserve America’s prosperity, security, and democratic way of life in an era when they are threatened by the return of great power competition.
Who We Are
The Marathon Initiative is a 501(C)3 non-profit research think tank dedicated to the development of strategies to deal with the problems posed by great power competition.
Elbridge Colby
Elbridge Colby is co-founder and principal of The Marathon Initiative, a policy initiative focused on developing strategies to prepare the United States for an era of sustained great power competition.
Wess Mitchell
Dr. A. Wess Mitchell is co-founder and principal at The Marathon Initiative, a policy initiative focused on developing strategies to prepare the United States for an era of sustained great power competition.
Our Work
We believe that the primary task for our generation is to build a new American strategy attuned to the pressing realities of our time. This framework must be comprehensive of the major regions and dimensions of U.S. power and interests. It must also be willing to challenge established wisdom and inertia in U.S. national security policy and related fields.
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Foreign Affairs | We at Foreign Affairs have recently published a number of pieces on great-power competition. To complement these articles, we decided to ask a broad pool of experts for their take...
GW IKS | The intensifying strategic rivalry between the U.S. and China under the Trump administration has exposed the U.S.-Korea relations to a greater deal of uncertainty....
GW IKS | The intensifying strategic rivalry between the U.S. and China under the Trump administration has exposed the U.S.-Korea relations to a greater deal of uncertainty....
The Economist | Rousing music accompanies the h-6k, a hulking Chinese bomber, as it sweeps up into a pink sky. Moments later, its pilot presses a red button, with the panache and fortitude that only a People’s Liberation Army (pla) officer could muster, and a missile streaks towards the island of Guam...
Center for Strategic & International Studies | The CSIS Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative are pleased to present the Tenth Annual South China Sea Conference: Session Four on Friday, October 9, 2020...
USNI News | Freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea puts stress on the fleet when the Navy could use that time more effectively “to train up for high-end conflict,” a national security expert who served in the Trump administration said Friday...
War On the Rocks |China is now the official “pacing threat” for the U.S. armed forces. Simply put, the Pentagon considers the People’s Liberation Army its most serious competition. ....
RealClear Politics | The China challenge has revived an old and often arid quarrel about the relationship in foreign affairs between ideas and interests...
ZeitenwendeWendezeiten | From the US perspective, the era of “the end of history” is over. America is internalizing that and increasingly determined to concentrate on great power competition....
Internationale Politik | The rapid rise of China is inevitably forcing a major shift in the US-European relationship. It is time for both sides to root the transatlantic bond in shared interests, rather than often ill-defined values. Fortunately, such a basis exists.....
Foreign Policy | As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on and its economic toll grows, politicians and observers on both sides of the U.S. political divide have called for cuts to the national security budget in order to free up funds for more pressing items...
USNI News | EPalau’s recent offer to permit the United States to build bases and airfields could provide a model for Washington to use to counter China’s territorial claims in the Pacific, a senior security expert told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday....
VOAKorea | A former U.S. Department of Defense official warned that if South Korea takes neutrality between the US and China, which are in a battle for supremacy, it will in fact lean towards China, and if it tries to walk the so-called tightrope, it will be dangerous...
Naver | A former U.S. Department of Defense official warned, "Korea is on a dangerous tightrope between the United States and China," and warned that "taking a neutral position is actually on the side of China."....
House Armed Services Committee | Full Committee Hearing: “The Role of Allies and Partners in U.S. Military Strategy and Operations”, Wednesday, September 23, 2020, (12:00 PM ET – CVC & Cisco Webex – Open)...
ZeitenwendeWendezeiten | If South Korea takes neutrality between the United States and China, it would in fact be interpreted as being on the Chinese side, a former senior U.S. Department of Defense official said. Analysis has also been raised that South Korea is choosing a strategic ambiguity between the United States and China. Reporter Kim Young-gyo reports.....
Global Taiwan Institute | Watch the Day 1 discussion...
C-SPAN | Elbridge Colby, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Trump administration, talked about the new Pentagon...
Foreign Affairs | Bipartisanship is exotic these days in the United States, but the two parties do share something: a deep concern about China. Asked....
Internationale Politik | A new reality is forcing US foreign policy to make fundamental changes...
Contact
For press inquiries, please email us at press@themarathoniniative.org.
For all other inquiries, please email us at inquiries@themarathoniniative.org.
