Five years ago, at a time of transition at the magazine, Foreign Affairs addressed several of the issues being raised at this conference. While Foreign Affairs has made a number of operational changes, including going bimonthly to increase topicality, the magazine is still searching for the right mix of tradition and innovation to undergird its relevance and appeal in a post-Cold War environment. Some progress has been made. Circulation is up as is readership, particularly within a younger generation. Response, in the form of letters, rebuttal articles and commentary in other publications, has also increased.

The three biggest changes in Foreign Affairs have been an expanded range of subject matter, increased attention to economics and incorporation of new writers. Subjects once considered more domestic than foreign are within the magazine’s purview—health care, environmental protection, pension funding, drug and crime prevention. Globalization and its effects, the prospects and problems of Asia’s economic transformation and the workings of international financial institutions are among the economic topics that have received greater attention. And given the uncertainty of the post-Cold War world, Foreign Affairs has encouraged an exchange of views on the nature of the international system and the cultural as well as political forces at work. For fresh perspectives, we are seeking new voices, more post-Cold War in their orientation, to supplement the work of our traditional contributors.

Within the “attentive” and “engaged” strata where we find our readers there has been far less fall off of interest in foreign affairs than within the general public. Indeed, there is evidence of enlarged concern about the global management issues mentioned above. Still, in a time of general domestic preoccupation, a premium must be put on sprightly presentation and provocative argumentation. That is so not only to capture younger readers but to sustain the influence we achieve from amplification in the general media and the larger political world. Being relevant on global management issues is also essential to influencing the expanding world of NGOs.

Now, 10 years into the post-Cold War era, there is a repetitiveness about many insights and an ephemeral or hidebound quality about others. Moreover, the search for an overarching approach to foreign policy is proving more difficult, if realizable at all, than it was when George Kennan provided such direction for the bipolar rivalry of the Cold War. A major challenge for foreign-policy journals today is that of discovering fresh thinking that is not only provocative but substantial over time. Key elements of that challenge are grasping the nature of an emerging international order and suggesting institutional ways to foster both stability and peaceful progress.