Michael Mandelbaum (born 1946)
is a professor and director of the
American Foreign Policy program at the
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
,
School of Advanced International Studies.
He has written a number of books on American foreign policy and edited a dozen more.
Education
Mandelbaum earned a
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
.
He was also educated at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
and
King's College, Cambridge
King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...
where he was a
Marshall Scholar.
Career
Mandelbaum was named one of the top 100 Global Thinkers by ''
Foreign Policy
Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
'' magazine "for teaching America how to be a hegemon on the cheap."
He is on the board of directors of the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Mandelbaum worked on security issues at the US
Department of State from 1982 to 1983 on a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship in the office of Undersecretary of State
Lawrence Eagleburger.
He later served as an adviser to
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
.
Speaking on behalf of the
United States Information Agency
The United States Information Agency (USIA) was a United States government agency devoted to propaganda which operated from 1953 to 1999.
Previously existing United States Information Service (USIS) posts operating out of U.S. embassies wor ...
for more than two decades, Mandelbaum has explained American foreign policy to groups throughout Europe, East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, India, and the Middle East.
From 1986 to 2003, he was a senior fellow at the
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...
in New York, where he was also the director of its Project on East-West Relations.
Mandelbaum was then a Carnegie Scholar (2004–2005) of the
Carnegie Corporation of New York
The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world.
Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or othe ...
.
From 1984 to 2005, he was the associate director of the
Aspen Institute's Congressional Program on Relations with the Former Communist World.
He has taught at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
,
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
, and the
US Naval Academy.
He also taught business executives at the Wharton Advanced Management Program in the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the
Wharton School
The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...
of Business at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
.
Mandelbaum is a frequent commentator on American foreign policy. From 1985 to 2005, he wrote a regular foreign affairs analysis column for ''
Newsday
''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...
''.
His writing has also appeared in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', and the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
He has appeared as a guest on ''
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
'', ''
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show ''Charlie Rose (talk show), Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg L.P., Bloombe ...
'', ''
Nightline
''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...
'', and ''
PBS NewsHour
''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...
''.
Writing
His first book, ''The Nuclear Question: The United States and Nuclear Weapons'', was published in 1979.
''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
'' called it "an excellent history of American nuclear policy... a clear, readable book."
In 1988, he published ''The Fate of Nations: The Search for National Security in the 19th and 20th Centuries''. ''Publishers Weekly'' said, "Mandelbaum's book is brilliant and enjoyable...
echarts how nations find ways of acting together in diplomatically organized groups for defensive purposes, and he analyses certain countries' specific roles and histories. His knowledge of philosophy, politics, history and economics results in a stunning delineation of centuries of military actions, political maneuverings and cultural uprisings." In 1996, he wrote ''The Dawn of Peace in Europe''.
Walter Russell Mead in ''
The New York Times Book Review'', called it a "brilliant book that combines the most lucid exposition yet of the post-cold-war order in Europe with a devastating critique of the Clinton Administration's foreign policy."
In 2002, he published ''The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets in the Twenty-first Century''.
''
The New York Times Book Review'' said, "A formidable and thought-provoking tour d'horizon. Best of all, it gives readers something to argue about."
In 2006, he wrote ''The Case for Goliath: How America Acts as the World's Government in the Twenty-First Century'',
in which he argued that US dominance in global affairs is better than the alternatives.
In 2010, he wrote ''The Frugal Superpower: America's Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era'',
in which he argued that the
2008 financial crisis
The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
and economic obligations will redraw the boundaries of US foreign policy. Published in 2011, ''
That Used to Be Us'' addresses four major problems faced by America: globalization, the revolution in information technology, US chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption.
Bibliography
Books
*
* ''The Nuclear Revolution: International Politics Before and After Hiroshima'' (1981)
* ''The Nuclear Future'' (1983)
* ''Reagan and Gorbachev'' (Co-written with
Strobe Talbott
Nelson Strobridge Talbott III (born April 25, 1946) is an American foreign policy analyst focused on Russia. He was associated with ''Time'' magazine, and a diplomat who served as the deputy secretary of state from 1994 to 2001. He was president ...
1987)
* ''The Global Rivals: The Soviet American Contest for Supremacy'' (Co-written with
Seweryn Bialer 1988)
* ''The Fate of Nations: The Search for National Security in the 19th and 20th Centuries'' (Cambridge University Press, 1988) ,
* ''The Dawn of Peace in Europe'' (1996)
* ''The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets in the Twenty-First Century'' (2002)
* ''The Meaning of Sports: Why Americans Watch Baseball, Basketball and Football and What They See When They Do'' (2005)
* ''The Case for Goliath: How America Acts As the World's Government in the Twenty-First Century'' (Public Affairs, 2006) ,
* ''Democracy’s Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World's Most Popular Form of Government'' (Public Affairs, 2007) ,
* ''The Frugal Superpower: America's Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era'' (2010) ,
* ''
That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back'' (Co-written with
Thomas Friedman
Thomas Loren Friedman ( ; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global ...
2011)
* ''The Road to Global Prosperity'' (2014) .
* ''Mission Failure: America and the World in the Post-Cold War Era'' (Oxford University Press, 2016) ,
* ''The Rise and Fall of Peace on Earth'' (Oxford University Press, 2019) ,
* ''The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy: Weak Power, Great Power, Superpower, Hyperpower'' (Oxford University Press, 2022), ,
* ''The Titans of the Twentieth Century: How They Made History and the History They Made'' (Oxford University Press, 2024), ,
Critical studies and reviews of Mandelbaum's work
''Mission failure''
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandelbaum, Michael
Johns Hopkins University faculty
Columbia University faculty
1946 births
Harvard University alumni
Yale University alumni
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy