Policy Review explains the ideas behind public policy: foreign policy and international relations, security, constitutional law, political ideas and democracy, economics and society, and the craft of policy analysis itself. Every explainer starts with a short, precise answer and then goes as deep as the subject needs, with sources for every factual claim.
A short history of this domain
From 1977 to 2013 this address belonged to Policy Review, a journal of ideas founded by The Heritage Foundation and published from 2001 by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Its essays, among them Robert Kagan’s “Power and Weakness”, are still cited in scholarship, journalism and on Wikipedia. The journal ceased publication in 2013; its archive remains available on the Hoover Institution’s website.
In 2026 the domain was relaunched under new ownership by Progressive Media GmbH as an independent, nonpartisan reference. This site is not the former journal and is not affiliated with the Hoover Institution, Stanford University or The Heritage Foundation. None of the original essays is republished here. Where an old essay address still receives links, you will find a new essay guide that explains the essay and links to the original.
How we work
- Answer first. The definition comes in the first two sentences.
- Every school of thought in its own best terms. Realists and liberals, originalists and living constitutionalists, Keynesians and monetarists are each described the way their own proponents would.
- Sources you can check. Primary sources wherever possible: constitutions, court decisions, treaties, official statistics, the original texts.
- Dated reviews. Every page shows when it was last reviewed.
Who writes here
Felix Sommermann writes and reviews the explainers and essay guides on this site. [A longer biography and photo will follow.]
Found an error? Please tell us on the contact page. Corrections are made openly and dated on the page.