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Expert Bio
Joshua Kurlantzick is senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is the author, most recently, of Beijing's Global Media Offensive: China's Uneven Campaign To Influence Asia and the World. Kurlantzick was previously a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he studied Southeast Asian politics and economics and China's relations with Southeast Asia, including Chinese investment, aid, and diplomacy. Previously, he was a fellow at the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy and a fellow at the Pacific Council on International Policy. He is currently focused on China’s relations with Southeast Asia, and China’s approach to soft and sharp power, including state-backed media and information efforts and other components of soft and sharp power. He is also working on issues related to the rise of global populism, populism in Asia, and the impact of COVID-19 on illiberal populism and political freedom overall.
Kurlantzick has also served as a columnist for Time, a correspondent for The Economist based in Bangkok, a special correspondent for the New Republic, a senior correspondent for the American Prospect, and a contributing writer for Mother Jones. He also serves on the editorial board of Current History.
He is the winner of the Luce Scholarship for journalism in Asia and was selected as a finalist for the Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism in Asia. His first book, Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power Is Transforming the World, was nominated for CFR’s 2008 Arthur Ross Book Award. He is also the author of A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA, State Capitalism: How the Return of Statism is Transforming the World, and Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline in Representative Government.
Kurlantzick received his BA in political science from Haverford College.
Affiliations:
- Freedom House, contributor to Freedom in the World
- Japan Times, monthly contributor
- Pinter Politik, contributor
- World Politics Review, monthly contributor
- Diplomat Risk Intelligence, participant in expert network
- GLG Network, participant in expert network
Featured
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Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has taken differing policy approaches from his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.
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Malaysia's voters delivered an inconclusive message in the general election, leading to a hung parliament.
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President Biden's attendance marks an important development in the U.S.-ASEAN relationship, but ASEAN continues to prove ineffective in addressing the region's most pressing issues.
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My recent interview with the China Project focused on China's expanding media, information, and influence efforts across the globe.
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Like Russia, China is increasingly interfering in elections in the United States and worldwide.
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Thailand's recent mass shooting exposes the government's flawed gun policy and the drug crisis facing Thai society. The military-dominated ruling coalition seems unwilling to enact meaningful reform on both issues.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping has gone much further than analysts had predicted he would in state control of the private sector in China and departure from a consensus-based authoritarian system to one-man rule.
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Despite an uncertain economic outlook, the approaching U.S. midterm elections appear to be competitive between the Democratic and Republican parties.
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The Thai court's decision to allow Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to remain in office does not bode well for Thailand's political climate or institutions.
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Thailand's political environment is tense in the run-up to the 2023 national elections.
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Current Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto is a likely contender for Indonesia's 2024 presidential election. His candidacy could pose a number of challenges to democracy in the country.
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Despite Southeast Asia's significant democratic erosion in 2022, upcoming elections and other political developments in 2023 could be even more detrimental to democracy in the region.
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ASEAN has proven ineffective in responding to the Myanmar military's brutal crackdown since the 2021 coup.
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Demonstrators in Thailand are increasingly open in their critiques of the military-aligned government and the Thai monarchy.
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The Biden administration's Indo-Pacific Economic Framework needs more work.
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In recent months, Laos’ economy has crashed.
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In the past four years, China’s global image has deteriorated extensively.
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Myanmar’s military, which once seemed so powerful, is struggling against the anti-junta forces arrayed against it; and for the armed forces, losing is no longer out of the question.
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The early days of the Marcos Jr. administration may preview the remainder of his term.
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The latest on Sino-Lithuanian relations, and their global implications.
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Marcos Jr's decisive victory would change the political landscape in the Philippines.
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The U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit will likely revolve around several key themes.