Program: The Future of North America

North American Strategic Vision

At the heart of SFS’s strategic vision is a global narrative within a North American context establishing a geopolitical force bringing together the United States, Canada, and Mexico as an anchor of peace, prosperity and stability throughout the world.

Arguably, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ratified in 1994 defined this trilateral relationship. Since then we’ve seen the explosion of the information age, the internet, and social media. While mostly positive, these new technologies have also globalized the threats from Islamic extremism, transnational organized crime, and rogue regimes rising in power around the world. This is concurrent with the rise of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as a geopolitical force, the increased legitimacy of Iran as a hegemon in the Middle East, and the decline of the Eurozone—all rapidly changing the nature in which we talk, trade, and interact with one another.

SFS aims to reinvigorate the North American alliance through our visionary Future of North America (FONA)program proposing a strategic perspective, policy guidance, and long overdue regional discussion to policymakers around the world.

Our goal is to revitalize a “grand strategy” for North America, positioning this alliance as a major geopolitical force in the 21st century.

The FONA Program

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Roger Pardo Maurer speaking at our Future of North America Forum in Calgary, Alberta—Canada in 2015.

Our FONA program is led by Roger Pardo Maurer, the former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs (2001-2006)—whose vision for a “greater North America” re-conceptualizes the relationship with Canada and Mexico while tapping into opportunities working closer with rising democracies in the Isthmus (Central America), the Caribbean (our “third border”), and Colombia. Essential to this vision is a growth oriented, globally-competitive approach to re-energize the entire region by building on our comparative advantages – in geography, demography, culture, infrastructure, capital, trade, and energy. Improving the lives of nearly 600 million people from the Hudson Bay to Chiapas and beyond.

Today the enemy to peace and prosperity is isolation, and we cannot afford to let the strength of our bond abate for the lack of dialogue and communication. We must work together to neutralize shared threats, overcome our policy differences, and increase our gains from trade and innovation as we build a secure and free North American society that leads the world in peace and prosperity.

To date, the FONA program has held critical policy forums in:

  • Ottawa, Ontario—Canada on October 26, 2012, at Parliament Hill with the former Governor of Virginia and U.S. presidential candidate Jim Gilmore to discuss continental perimeter security and the threat of radical Islam in North America.
  • Toronto, Ontario—Canada on November 2013 at the Albany Club to discuss challenges facing the region from Iran, China and the Bolivarian Alliance of Latin America.
  • Calgary, Alberta—Canada on June 4, 2015, with retired Gen. David Petraeus and former World Bank President Robert Zoellick to discuss regional integration and policy concerning security, energy, and economic integration strategies.
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General David Petraeus speaking at the Future of North America forum in Calgary, Canada

PROGRAM EXPERTS

Joseph M. Humire

Joseph M. Humire

Executive Director

Candice Malcolm

Candice Malcolm

International Fellow For Canada