BruceJentleson

Bruce W. Jentleson

William Preston Few Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Faculty Network Member of The Energy Initiative, Duke University
Chapter Member: North Carolina SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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(919) 613-9208

About Bruce

Jentleson has expertise on many aspects of U.S. foreign policy; particularly the Middle East (Israel; Arab-Israeli; Iran; Syria; Libya; the Arab Spring). He also speaks and writes frequently on “big picture” overall U.S. global strategy. Beginning in September of 2015; he will serve a one-year term as the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress Kluge Center. He has served in a number of government positions; including as a Senior Advisor at the State Department (2009-2011); senior foreign policy advisor to Al Gore’s presidential campaign (1999-2000); State Department Policy Planning Staff (1993-94); a foreign policy advisor to Vice Presidential candidate Gore (1992); and a foreign policy aide for Senator Gore (1987-88). Jentleson has served on a number of D.C.-based working groups; including currently as a member of the Responsibility to Protect Working Group; co-chaired by Madeleine Albright and Rich Williamson.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Toward a New U.S. Strategy in the Middle East

Key Findings Brief,

In the News

Interviewed in "Steady And Prudent And Able': The Diplomatic Legacy Of George H.W. Bush," WBUR, December 5, 2018.
Opinion: "Millennials are So Over US Domination of World Affairs," Bruce W. Jentleson, The Conversation, July 26, 2018.
Guest on WUNC: The State of Things, April 24, 2018.
Interviewed in "Should the US Pull Its Troops out of Syria?," WWL First News, April 2, 2018.
Interviewed in "Can President Trump Get a Middle East Peace Deal?," WWL First News, September 22, 2017.
Quoted by Michael Hernandez in "Trump Risks Everything by Supporting Hate Rally," Anadolu Agency, August 19, 2017.
Guest on Duke Chronicle Towerview, November 2, 2016.
Opinion: "Western Democracies' Witch's Brew," Bruce W. Jentleson, The Hill, April 6, 2016.
Opinion: "Reports of American Fears Have Been Greatly Exaggerated," Bruce W. Jentleson, Foreign Policy, December 22, 2015.
Quoted by Melissa Sim in "Obama Wins Enough Congress Support for Iran Nuclear Deal," Straights Times, September 4, 2015.
Opinion: "Corker-Menendez Bill Hinders, Not Helps, a Good Iran Deal," Bruce W. Jentleson, The Hill, April 13, 2015.
Quoted by Howard LaFranchi in "U.S. No Longer the Power Broker It Was on Path to Palestinian Statehood," Christian Science Monitor, January 8, 2015.
Opinion: "Let the 'Grand Strategy' Debate Begin," Bruce W. Jentleson, The Hill, November 21, 2014.
Quoted by Susan Page in "Poll: Amid Foreign Crises, More Americans Support U.S. Action," USA Today, August 28, 2014.
Research discussed by Joshua Keating, in "The Intervention of Least Resistance," Slate, August 30, 2013.
Opinion: "In Middle East, President Obama Misplays Hand," Bruce W. Jentleson, Politico, August 19, 2013.
Opinion: "Newsweek's Iran War Game," Bruce W. Jentleson, commentary on Newsweek's replication of a meeting of the Principals Committee (with Bruce Jentleson acting as National Security Advisor) simulating possible reactions to an Israeli attack in Iran before the U.S. 2012 elections, The Daily Beast, October 8, 2012.
Opinion: "Who was the Least Successful Foreign Policy President?," Bruce W. Jentleson (with various historians and commentators selected by CNN's blog "Global Public Square"), CNN.com, September 21, 2012.
Opinion: "Who was the Best Foreign Policy President?," Bruce W. Jentleson (with various historians and commentators selected by the CNN blog "Global Public Square"), CNN.com, September 20, 2012.
Opinion: "A Man with a Plan," Bruce W. Jentleson (with Charles A. Kupchan), Foreign Policy, September 6, 2012.
Opinion: "A Dangerous Mind," Bruce W. Jentleson (with Charles A. Kupchan), Foreign Policy, August 30, 2012.
Quoted by in "U.N. Official Rebukes Syria Over Violence," New York Times, February 13, 2012.
Opinion: "What Military Force Will Require," Bruce W. Jentleson, Room for Debate, New York Times, March 2, 2011.

Publications

American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century (W.W. Norton and Company, 5th edition, forthcoming).
A leading university textbook, used widely in the U.S. and internationally
The Peacemakers: Leadership Lessons from Twentieth-Century Statesmanship (W.W. Norton, 2018).

Shows how twentieth-century leaders of a variety of types—national, international, institutional, sociopolitical, nongovernmental—rewrote the zero-sum scripts they were handed and successfully made breakthroughs on issues long thought intractable. Draws out lessons across the twenty-first century global agenda, making clear how difficult peacemaking is, while powerfully demonstrating that it has been possible—and urgently stressing how necessary it is today. 

"Accepting Limits: How to Adapt to a Copernican World" Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, no. 23 (2012).
Part of a symposium on keys to a progressive foreign policy.
"Beware the Duck Test" Washington Quarterly 34, no. 3 (2011): 137-149.
Lessons of U.S. policy in the Third World for the contemporary Middle East.
The End of Arrogance: America in the Global Competition of Ideas (with Steve Weber). (Harvard University Press, 2010).
“Big picture” look at the 21st century international system and U.S. strategy.
"Who ‘Won’ Libya? The Force-Diplomacy Debate and Its Implications for Theory and Policy" (with Christopher A. Whytock). International Security 30, no. 3 (2006): 47-86.
Analysis of 2003 agreement with Libya ending their weapons of mass destruction programs.