Robert Kagan
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Robert Kagan (; born September 26, 1958) is an American columnist. He is a
neoconservative Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party along with the growing New Left and ...
scholar. He is a critic of
U.S. foreign policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...
and a leading advocate of
liberal internationalism Liberal internationalism is a foreign policy doctrine that supports international institutions, open markets, cooperative security, and liberal democracy. At its core, it holds that states should participate in international institutions that up ...
. A co-founder of the neoconservative
Project for the New American Century The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was a neoconservative *"The PNAC's 33 leaders were highly connected with the American state – displaying 115 such connections: 27 with the Department of Defense, 13 with State, 12 with the Whit ...
, he is a senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...
. Kagan has been a foreign policy adviser to U.S. Republican presidential candidates as well as Democratic administrations via the Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He wrote a monthly column on world affairs for ''
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 ...
''. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, Kagan left the Republican Party due to the party's nomination of
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
and endorsed the Democratic candidate,
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
, for president.


Personal life and education

Kagan was born in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, Greece. His father, historian Donald Kagan, was the
Sterling Professor Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at Yale University, is awarded to a Academic tenure in North America, tenured faculty member considered the best in their field. It is akin to the rank of distinguished professor at other universities. ...
of Classics and History Emeritus 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 a specialist in the history of the
Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...
, was of
Lithuanian Jewish {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Litvaks , image = , caption = , poptime = , region1 = {{flag, Lithuania , pop1 = 2,800 , region2 = {{flag, South Africa , pop2 = 6 ...
descent. His brother
Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...
is a military historian and author. Kagan has a B.A. in history (1980) from
Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
, where in 1979 he was editor-in-chief of the ''
Yale Political Monthly ''The Politic: The Yale College Journal of Politics'' is a bi-monthly Yale University student publication started in 1947, when the ''Yale Political Journal: A Magazine of Student Opinion'' was founded. The magazine was revived in 1979 as the '' ...
'', a periodical he is credited with reviving. He later earned a
Master of Public Policy The Master of Public Policy (MPP) is a graduate-level professional degree. It provides training in policy analysis and program evaluation at public policy schools. The MPP program places a focus on the systematic analysis of issues related to pu ...
from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a Ph.D. in American history from
American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
in Washington, D.C. Kagan is married to American diplomat Victoria Nuland, who previously served as deputy national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney and
assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs is a position within the United States Department of State that leads the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs charged with implementing American foreign policy in Europe and Eu ...
in the Obama administration.


Career

In 1983, Kagan was foreign policy advisor to
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
Republican Representative
Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician, professional Gridiron football, football player, and U.S. Army veteran. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party from New York, he served a ...
. From 1984 to 1986, under the administration of
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, he was a speechwriter for Secretary of State George P. Shultz and a member of the
United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...
Policy Planning Staff. From 1986 to 1988, he served in the State Department Bureau of Inter-American Affairs. In 1997, Kagan co-founded the now-defunct neoconservative think tank
Project for the New American Century The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was a neoconservative *"The PNAC's 33 leaders were highly connected with the American state – displaying 115 such connections: 27 with the Department of Defense, 13 with State, 12 with the Whit ...
with
William Kristol William Kristol (; born December 23, 1952) is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine '' The Weekly Standard''. Kristol is e ...
. Through the work of the PNAC, from 1998, Kagan was an early and strong advocate of military action in Syria, Iran, Afghanistan as well as to "remove Mr. Hussein and his regime from power." After the 1998 bombing of Iraq was announced Kagan said "bombing Iraq isn't enough" and called on Clinton to send ground troops to Iraq. From 1998 until August 2010, Kagan was a Senior Associate with the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...
. He was appointed senior fellow in the Center on United States and Europe at the
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...
in September 2010. During the 2008 presidential campaign he served as foreign policy advisor to
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
, the Republican Party's nominee for
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
in the 2008 election. Since 2011, Kagan has also served on the 25-member State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board under Secretaries of State
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
and
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...
. Andrew Bacevich referred to Kagan as "the chief neoconservative foreign-policy theorist" in reviewing Kagan's book ''The Return of History and the End of Dreams''. A profile in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' described Kagan as being "uncomfortable" with the 'neocon' title, and stated that "he insists he is 'liberal' and 'progressive' in a distinctly American tradition." In 2008, Kagan wrote an article titled "Neocon Nation: Neoconservatism, c. 1776" for '' World Affairs'', describing the main components of American neoconservatism as a belief in the rectitude of applying US moralism to the world stage, support for the US to act alone, the promotion of American-style liberty and democracy in other countries, the belief in American hegemony, the confidence in US military power, and a distrust of international institutions. According to Kagan, his foreign-policy views are "deeply rooted in American history and widely shared by Americans". In 2006, Kagan wrote that
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
and
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
are the greatest "challenge liberalism faces today": "Nor do Russia and China welcome the liberal West's efforts to promote liberal politics around the globe, least of all in regions of strategic importance to them. ... Unfortunately, al-Qaeda may not be the only challenge liberalism faces today, or even the greatest." In a February 2017 essay for
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 ...
, Kagan argued that U.S. post-
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
retrenchment in global affairs has emboldened Russia and China, "the two great revisionist powers," and will eventually lead to instability and conflict. In October 2018, Kagan said, "Unless are you willing to punish"
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
for the
assassination of Jamal Khashoggi On 2 October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, was killed by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi was ambushed and strangled by a 15-member squad of Saudi operatives. His body w ...
, "then they own you."


Writings

Kagan was a columnist for ''
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 ...
.'' He has also written for ''
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 ...
'', ''
Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...
'', ''
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 ...
'', '' Commentary'', '' World Affairs'', and '' Policy Review''. In 2003, Kagan's book ''Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order'', published on the eve of the US invasion of Iraq, created something of a sensation through its assertions that Europeans tended to favor peaceful resolutions of international disputes while the United States takes a more "Hobbesian" view in which certain kinds of disagreement can only be settled by force, or, as he put it: "Americans are from Mars and Europe is from Venus." A ''New York Times'' book reviewer, Ivo H. Daalder wrote: In ''Dangerous Nation: America's Place in the World from its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century'' (2006) Kagan argued forcefully against what he considers the widespread misconception that the United States had been isolationist since its inception. ''Dangerous Nation'' was awarded the 2007 Lepgold Prize by Georgetown University. Kagan's essay "Not Fade Away: The Myth of American Decline" (''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'', February 2, 2012) was very positively received by President Obama. Josh Rogin reported in ''
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 ...
'' that the president "spent more than 10 minutes talking about it...going over its arguments paragraph by paragraph." The essay was excerpted from Kagan's book, ''The World America Made'' (2012). John Bew and Kagan lectured on March 27, 2014, on
Realpolitik ''Realpolitik'' ( ; ) is the approach of conducting diplomatic or political policies based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than strictly following ideological, moral, or ethical premises. In this respect, ...
and
American exceptionalism American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is either distinctive, unique, or exemplary compared to other nations. Proponents argue that the Culture of the United States, values, Politics of the United States, political system ...
at the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
.


Criticism of Donald Trump

In February 2016, Kagan publicly left the Republican party (referring to himself as a "former Republican"), endorsing Democrat
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
for president. He argued that the Republican Party's "wild
obstructionism Obstructionism is the practice of deliberately delaying, preventing or Abuse of process, abusing a process. In politics Obstructionism or policy of obstruction denotes the deliberate interference with the progress of a legislation by various me ...
" and an insistence that "government, institutions, political traditions, party leadership and even parties themselves" were things meant to be "overthrown, evaded, ignored, insulted, laughed at" set the stage for the rise of
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
. Kagan called Trump a "
Frankenstein monster Frankenstein's monster, commonly referred to as Frankenstein, is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' as its main antagonist. Shelley's title compares the monster's ...
" and compared him to
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
. In May 2016, Kagan wrote an opinion piece in ''
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 ...
'' regarding Trump's campaign entitled "This is how fascism comes to America". Kagan has said that "all Republican foreign policy professionals are anti-Trump." In September 2021, Kagan wrote a related opinion essay published in ''The Washington Post'' by the title "Our
constitutional crisis In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the constitution, political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variat ...
is already here". He continued his criticism of Trump in November 2023 with another essay in ''The Washington Post'' entitled "A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending." In October of 2024, he resigned as
editor-at-large An editor-at-large is a journalist who contributes content to a magazine. They are typically credited in the publication's masthead, even if they technically are not on staff. The responsibilities of the editor-at-large may change project to proj ...
from the ''Post'' due to its decision not to endorse a candidate in the
2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...
between Trump and
Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
.


Select bibliography

*
A Twilight Struggle: American Power and Nicaragua, 1977-1990.
' (1996) *
Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in America's Foreign and Defense Policy
', with William Kristol (2000) * '' Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order.'' (2003) *
Dangerous Nation: America's Place in the World from its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century.
' (2006) *
The Return of History and the End of Dreams.
' (2008) * '' The World America Made.'' (2012) *'' The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World.'' (2018) * ''The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941'' (2023) * ''Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing America Apart - Again'' (2024)


See also

* Stop Trump movement


Notes


External links

*
"Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy"
by William Kristol and Robert Kagan
Articles at Brookings

Articles at Weekly Standard

Articles at Carnegie Endowment

Foreign Policy Folly
by Willian Ruger
Superpowers don't retire, but Robert Kagan should
by Tom Switzer
'Dangerous Nation' trilogy Book One Review
by Michael Lind

by Thomas Meaney {{DEFAULTSORT:Kagan, Robert 1958 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American political writers American University alumni Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Criticism of Donald Trump Harvard Kennedy School alumni Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish American social scientists Members of Skull and Bones Never Trump movement The Washington Post people Writers from Athens Yale College alumni 21st-century American historians