Joel H. Rosenthal is president of Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. As a nonprofit leader, scholar, and teacher he works to empower ethical action, with a particular focus on U.S. foreign policy, issues of war and peace, human rights, and pluralism. At Carnegie Council, Rosenthal leads a team that identifies critical ethical issues, convenes experts, and produces agenda-setting resources to educate and activate communities globally.
Rosenthal is editor-in-chief of the Ethics & International Affairs journal published by Cambridge University Press. His first book Righteous Realists is an examination of the political realists who shaped post-WWII America in the nuclear age, including Hans Morgenthau, Reinhold Niebuhr, and George Kennan. His current writing and commentary can be found at the President’s Desk.
Rosenthal is the recipient of numerous awards including the Distinguished Scholar Award from the International Studies Association for his lifetime achievement in international studies and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Social Science from the University of Edinburgh. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University and BA from Harvard University.
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Featured Work
JAN 21, 2016 • Article
Rising Fences: Migrants, Borders, and a New Frontier for Ethics
What will 2015 be remembered for? The image that comes to mind is “rising fences.” If we took a satellite photo of the planet, that would ...
JAN 21, 2016 • Article
Rising Fences: Migrants, Borders, and a New Frontier for Ethics
"What will 2015 be remembered for? The image that comes to mind is 'rising fences.' If we took a satellite photo of the planet, that ...
NOV 11, 2015 • Podcast
Beyond Silicon Valley: Elmira Bayrasli on Innovation in Unlikely Places
Elmira Bayrasli, founder of "Foreign Policy Interrupted" and author of "Beyond Silicon Valley," is all about shattering stereotypes and bringing disregarded groups to the fore, ...
NOV 4, 2015 • Podcast
Riverkeeper, Defending New York's Hudson River
Riverkeeper fights to protect the Hudson and the drinking water for nine million New Yorkers. Paul Gallay relates three of its success stories, offering lessons ...
SEP 22, 2015 • Article
Democracy as Myth and Fact
"Do democracies have the capacity to adjust? Can they expand their ideas of national interest to tackle collective challenges? Can they function in ways that ...
SEP 13, 2015 • Article
Democracy as Myth and Fact
Myths give meaning to our lives. They are stories created to explain the human condition—creation, death, heroism, dignity, pain, pride, and suffering. There is ...
AUG 21, 2015 • Article
Compromise and Rotten Compromises: A Reflection on the Iran Deal
Let’s give President Obama the benefit of the doubt. As the president has repeatedly asserted, the agreement insures that every pathway to a nuclear ...
AUG 20, 2015 • Article
Compromise and Rotten Compromises: A Reflection on the Iran Deal
Ultimately, will the Iran nuclear deal be a good compromise or a rotten one? For an ethicist, one question lingers. Why did the American-led negotiators ...
APR 6, 2015 • Podcast
American Energy Challenges and Global Leadership in the Years Ahead
Thanks to new technologies for extracting oil and natural gas, such as hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), the United States is now the biggest producer of energy ...
FEB 6, 2015 • Article
Letter to 2114, a Century from Now
"At the beginning of our hundredth year, I wrote a letter to Andrew Carnegie, reporting on the progress of our Council and the prospects for ...