home > the cfr think tank > experts > walter russell mead
Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-212-434-9548
E-mail: wmead@cfr.org
Location:
New York, NY
Media downloads:
High-resolution photo (JPG, 229K)
One-page bio (PDF, 37K)
Award-winning author of Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World. Author of God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World, released in October 2007.
Expertise:U.S. foreign policy; international political economy; domestic politics; religion and foreign policy.
Experience:Project Director, Religion and Foreign Policy, Pew Forum (2003-present); founding Board Member, New America Foundation (1999-present); Project Director, Study Group on History of U.S. Foreign Policy, Phase II (current); Senior Contributing Editor, Worth (current); Contributing Editor, Los Angeles Times (current); Project Director, Working Group on Development, Trade & International Finance, Phase II; President’s Fellow, World Policy Institute at the New School (1987-97); Contributing Editor, Harper’s Magazine (1986-91).
Honors:Lionel Gelber Award for the best book in English on international relations, Special Providence (2002); Premio Acqui Storia for most important historical book published in Italian, Italian translation of Special Providence (2002); Arthur Ross Book Award finalist, Special Providence (2002).
Selected Publications:God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World (Knopf, 2007); Power, Terror, Peace, and War: America’s Grand Strategy in a World at Risk (Knopf, 2004); Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World (Knopf, 2001); Mortal Splendor: The American Empire in Transition (Houghton Mifflin, 1987); and articles in Esquire, Worth, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker.
Current Research Projects
Past Research Projects
January/February 2009
Foreign Affairs Article — Summary
If it hopes to bring peace to the Middle East, the Obama administration must put Palestinian politics and goals first.
See more in Israel, Palestinian Authority
December 17, 2008
Op-Ed
International Herald Tribune
Walter Russell Mead calls for the Obama administration to engage with both the Israelis and Palestinians more deeply than past U.S. administrations.
See more in Middle East, U.S. Strategy and Politics, U.S. Election 2008
January/February 2009
Podcast
This audio includes readings of selected articles from the January/February 2009 issue of Foreign Affairs.
See more in United States
January/February 2009
Podcast
From the January/February 2009 issue of Foreign Affairs: to make Israel safe, give Palestinians their due.
See more in Israel, Palestinian Authority
December 8, 2008
Academic Module
This module features teaching notes by Walter Russell Mead, author of God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World, along with other resources to supplement the text. In his book, Mr. Mead recounts how the British and their American heirs built an unrivaled global system of politics, power, investment, and trade over the past three hundred years.
December 5, 2008
Op-Ed
The Australian
Don't write off capitalism; it has thrived on crises for the past 300 years, contends Walter Russell Mead.
See more in Economics, U.S. Election 2008
July 27, 2008
Op-Ed
Los Angeles Times
Using Barack Obama’s recent trip to Europe and the Middle East as a backdrop, Walter Rusell Mead highlights the many paradoxes associated with US foreign policy.
See more in U.S. Strategy and Politics, Presidency
June 30, 2008
Op-Ed
Sydney Morning Herald
Australia and Canada don’t have particularly deep or close relations, but there are strong reasons to believe that closer Canberra-Ottawa ties would bring substantial benefits to both, writes Walter Russell Mead.
See more in Canada, Australasia and the Pacific
July/August 2008
Foreign Affairs Article — Summary
The real key to Washington’s pro-Israel policy is long-lasting and broad-based support for the Jewish state among the American public at large.
See more in Israel, Media and Foreign Policy
July/August 2008
Podcast
This audio includes readings of selected articles from the July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs.
See more in United States, U.S. Strategy and Politics
July/August 2008
Podcast
From the July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs: The real key to Washington's pro-Israel policy is long-lasting and broad-based support for the Jewish state among the American public at large.
See more in Israel, U.S. Strategy and Politics
June 11, 2008
Transcript
March 25, 2008
Video
Watch experts discuss the role of religion with regard to the state.
See more in Nation Building, Religion
March 25, 2008
Audio
Listen to experts discuss the role of religion with regard to the state.
See more in Nation Building, Religion
March 25, 2008
Transcript
Experts discuss trends in religion and foreign policy.
See more in Religion
March 2008
Op-Ed
The Atlantic
Walter Russell Mead discusses how America’s evangelicals are growing more moderate—and more powerful.
See more in United States, Religion, U.S. Election 2008
March 12, 2008
Video
Experts from the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economist, and New York University discuss the public diplomacy challenges facing a new U.S. administration.
February 6, 2008
Interview
Walter Russell Mead, an award-winning historian, discusses the importance of national security credentials and religion in the presidential nominating contests.
See more in United States, Elections
January 10, 2008
Op-Ed
Wall Street Journal
Walter Russell Mead writes that the “danger of war between the U.S. and Iran over free passage in the Straits is very real.”
See more in United States, Iran, Wars and Warfare
December 27, 2007
Op-Ed
Wall Street Journal
Walter Russell Mead writes that “few subjects matter as much as oil, the Persian Gulf and American foreign policy. But few subjects are less well understood.”
See more in Gulf States, Energy Security, U.S. Strategy and Politics
In The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the Bush administration’s struggle to balance security and openness in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report lays out a thoughtful agenda for U.S. policy toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, arguing that what happens there should matter to the United States--for humanitarian reasons as well as economic and strategic ones.
In this report, CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi analyzes the potential use of deterrence in preventing terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons and recommends a new approach to U.S. declaratory policy, as well as ways to improve U.S. capabilities to determine the sources of terrorist attacks.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
Gary Samore
Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9627
gsamore@cfr.org
Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for
Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
Fellow for International Economics
smallaby@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
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