Joshua Rovner is an associate professor in the School of International Service at American University, and a nonresident senior fellow the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. His research and teaching focus on intelligence, strategy, and the sources of international instability.
Rovner’s most recent book is “Strategy and Grand Strategy” (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2025). He is also the author of “Fixing the Facts: National Security and the Politics of Intelligence” (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011), which won the Best Book Award from the International Security Studies section of the International Studies Association, and the Edgar S. Furniss Book Award from the Mershon Center at the Ohio State University. Rovner is also the co-editor of “Chaos in the Liberal Order: The Trump Presidency and International Politics in the 21st Century,” with Francis J. Gavin, Robert Jervis, and Diane Labrosse (New York: Columbia University Press, 2018); and “Chaos Reconsidered: The Liberal Order and the Future of International Politics,” with Stacie Goddard, Robert Jervis, and Diane Labrosse (New York: Columbia University Press, 2023). His current book project is about secret intelligence and the causes of war.
In addition to his books and book chapters, Rovner has published in Security Studies, The Journal of Strategic Studies, The Journal of Global Security Studies, Diplomacy & Statecraft, Texas National Security Review, The Washington Quarterly, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and elsewhere.
Rovner is a graduate of University of California, San Diego (B.A.); Boston College (M.A.); and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D.). Prior to joining American University, he held the John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security at Southern Methodist University, and was an associate professor of strategy and policy at the U.S. Naval War College. Rovner currently serves as associate editor at the Texas National Security Review. Previously he was managing editor of the H-Diplo International Security Studies Forum, and deputy editor of the Journal of Strategic Studies. In 2018-2019 Rovner served as scholar-in-residence at the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command.
Affiliations:
- Journal of Strategic Studies, editorial board member
- Security Studies, editorial board member
- Texas National Security Review, associate editor
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Current Positions
- Associate Professor of International Relations, American University
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Past Positions
- John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security, Southern Methodist University
- Associate Professor of Political Science, Southern Methodist University
- Associate Professor of Strategy & Policy, U.S. Naval War College
- Scholar-in-Residence, National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command
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Education
- Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- M.A., Boston College
- B.A., University of California, San Diego