About
Expert

Robert Kagan

Robert Kagan is the Stephen & Barbara Friedman Senior Fellow with the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. Until recently, he also served as a contributing columnist at The Washington Post.

His latest book, “Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing America Apart — Again,” was released in April 2024 by Knopf. One of his previous books was The New York Times bestseller, “The World America Made” (Knopf, 2012). He is also the author of “The Ghost at the Feast: America and Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941” (Knopf); “The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World” (Knopf, 2018); “Return of History and the End of Dreams” (Knopf, 2008); “Dangerous Nation: America’s Place in the World from its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the 20th Century” (Knopf 2006); “Of Paradise and Power” (Knopf 2003); and “A Twilight Struggle: American Power and Nicaragua, 1977-1990” (Free Press, 1996).

For his writings, Politico Magazine named Kagan one of the “Politico 50” in 2016, the “thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics in 2016.” He served in the State Department from 1984 to 1988 as a member of the policy planning staff, as principal speechwriter for Secretary of State George P. Shultz, and as deputy for policy in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs.

He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and holds a doctorate in American history from American University.

Affiliations:

  • Foreign Policy Initiative, board member
  • Leigh Speaker’s Bureau, speaker
  • Working Group on Egypt, co-chairman
  • Current Positions

    • Contributing Writer, The Atlantic
    • Member, Foreign Affairs Policy Board, U.S. Department of State
  • Past Positions

    • Columnist, The Washington Post
    • Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1988-2010)
    • Principal Speechwriter for Secretary of State George Shultz (1984-88)
    • Deputy for Policy, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs
  • Education

    • B.A., Yale University
    • M.P.P., John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
    • Ph.D., American University

Mentions and Appearances

Financial Times May 10, 2025

Robert Kagan joined the Financial Times Weekend Festival at the Kennedy Center’s Reach as a discussant on the panel “America and the World – A Relationship on the Brink,” exploring U.S....

May 2, 2025

Robert Kagan spoke at the University of Oxford’s Dahrendorf Lecture on the United States, EU, and U.K. in a disordered world.

Watch the lecture

Robert Kagan joined the Center for Journalism and Democracy’s “Journalism Under Fire: Guarding Against Threats to Our Democracy” panel discussion. 

Watch the event
Brussel Sprouts January 24, 2025

Robert Kagan joins CNAS’ “Brussel Sprouts” podcast to discuss President Trump’s vision at home and abroad.

Listen to the podcast
CNN January 13, 2025

Robert Kagan spoke to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on how a Russian victory in Ukraine would be a blow to the United States.

Watch the interview
Haaretz November 6, 2024

Robert Kagan spoke with Haaretz about the precarious state of America’s democratic future, warning that the prospect of a second Trump presidency poses a serious threat to both American...

Read the article
The Washington Post March 1, 2024

Robert Kagan joins Washington Post Live “First Look” for a discussion on Mitch McConnell’s legacy, the Supreme Court, and more.

Watch the video
Politico December 23, 2013

The year 2013 has been a good one for autocrats. In Egypt, a military dictatorship seized power from a democratically elected government and has been crushing opposition. In Syria, the..."

Voice of America December 14, 2012

If you take the Syria issue which is before us right now, what people are waiting for is for the United States to step up and start pulling everyone together. And what’s been missing..."

CNN August 24, 2011

[W]e are going to start having to talk about…what kind of international role is going to have to be played in Libya once Gadhafi has fallen.

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