Foreign Policy Specialist & Bestselling Author
Biography
A Johns Hopkins foreign policy specialist and bestselling author, Michael Mandelbaum is known for his ability to explain the meaning and consequences of global developments and trends. The New York Times called him “one of the country's leading public intellectuals,” and Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. His new book, The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy: Weak Power, Great Power, Superpower, Hyperpower, was released in 2022. Kirkus, in its starred review, called it “magisterial” and “deeply insightful.”
Mandelbaum lectures internationally on geopolitics and global hot spots, the future of democracy, the challenges facing America, and how information technology and globalization are transforming the world and individual countries and industries.
He is the author or co-author of 17 books, including The Rise and Fall of Peace on Earth, published by Oxford University Press in March 2019. Co-written with Thomas Friedman, Mandelbaum's That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, debuted at #2 on The New York Times bestsellers list. Library Journal called it “a book of exceptional importance” that “should be read by policymakers and every American concerned about our country's future.”
His latest books include Mission Failure: America and the World in the Post-Cold War Era, and The Road to Global Prosperity, which looks at the future of the global economy, with sections on financial stability, international security, the politics of trade, and emerging markets.
Mandelbaum’s classic, The Ideas That Conquered the World, has been translated into seven languages, including Chinese and Arabic. Henry Kissinger praised it as “illuminating and thought-provoking.” His other books include The Case for Goliath, Democracy’s Good Name, The Meaning of Sports, and The Frugal Superpower, which The Financial Times named one of the best non-fiction books of 2010.
The Christian A. Herter Professor Emeritus of American Foreign Policy at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Mandelbaum has taught at Columbia University, Harvard, and The United States Naval Academy. He was educated at Yale, Cambridge, and Harvard.
A former Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Mandelbaum serves on the board of advisors of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The World Affairs Council of America named him one of the most influential people in American foreign policy. He has been a guest on Face The Nation and The Daily Show.
Topics
American Foreign Policy: Patterns, Lessons, And A Look Ahead
What are the principal patterns of, and the major lessons from, the history of American foreign policy from the time of the Revolution in the 18th century to the present? How does the United States differ from other countries? What does an understanding of the past tell us about the future of the American international role?
Climate Change: Where Are We Now? What Does The Future Hold?
Dr. Mandelbaum provides a comprehensive assessment of the problem of climate change, addressing the most important questions it raises: what is known and unknown about it; why it is so difficult to address; what the most urgent tasks in addressing it are; the special role of the United States; and what the likely prospects for the future are.
Geopolitics And Global Hot Spots
An analysis of geopolitical developments, risks, and trends around the world. What matters now and what will affect companies, countries, and markets in the years ahead? What are the chances of major wars and serious economic breakdowns?
In this engagement, Michael Mandelbaum discusses the most volatile issues, including Russia’s aggressive policies, China’s ambitions in the East and South China Seas, Iran’s drive for dominance amid the ongoing upheavals in the Middle East, the dangers posed by “rogue” countries such as North Korea, international terrorism, and the future of the euro and the European Union. He also assesses the changing role of the United States in a world of shifting alliances, increasingly dispersed power and influence, and growing risks.
The Future Of Democracy
Democracy is the most widespread political system in the world, but in the last decade, new and formidable challenges to it have arisen. Michael Mandelbaum, the author of Democracy’s Good Name: The Rise and the Risks of the World’s Most Popular Form of Government, explains how and why democracy took hold in so many countries in the last three decades of the 20th century. In this speech, Mandelbaum discusses the prospects for it in the most important non-democracies — China and Russia — as well as the major challenges it faces where it has long been established, especially in the United States.
Hurricane Of Change: Globalization 3.0 & Technological Disruption
