Nikolas K. Gvosdev

Former Carnegie Council Senior Fellow, U.S. Global Engagement Initiative (USGE); U.S. Naval War College

Nikolas K. Gvosdev was a senior fellow for the U.S. Global Engagement Initiative (USGE) at Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

He is also a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, the director of the Policy Analysis sub-course in the National Security Affairs Department, and the Captain Jerome E. Levy Chair in economic geography and national security.

Gvosdev was the editor of The National Interest and remains a senior editor at the magazine. In addition, he holds a non-residential senior fellowship at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is a co-author of U.S. Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy: The Evolution of an Incidental Superpower (2015). He previously published Russian Foreign Policy: Interests, Vectors and Sectors (with Christopher Marsh) in 2013.

Gvosdev is a frequent commentator on U.S. foreign policy and international relations, Russian and Eurasian affairs, and developments in the Middle East.

Featured Work

JUL 6, 2018 Article

Trump the Disrupter

Lawrence Freedman has authored a fascinating essay, "Authentic Trump versus the Trump Administration: Donald Trump as Foreign Policy Disrupter." It raises questions that have been ...

JUL 5, 2018 Podcast

Global Ethics Weekly: Trump's "First-Order Questions" & NATO Defense Spending

Carnegie Council Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev looks at some basic questions Trump is asking about the post-Cold War alliance structures. Referencing a recent panel with ...

JUN 28, 2018 Podcast

Global Ethics Weekly: Orbán's Hungary, the EU, & a "Values-Free Alliance"

As Viktor Orbán continues to enact illiberal policies in Hungary, some, including Harvard's Yascha Mounk, have called for the state to be expelled from ...

JUN 22, 2018 Article

A "Values-Free" Trans-Atlantic Relationship?

Can an enduring and effective trans-Atlantic relationship be constructed and maintained without reference to commonly-shared values, in other words, can there be a "values-free" partnership?

L to R: Colin Dueck, Nikolas Gvosdev, Kori Schake. CREDIT: Amanda Ghanooni

JUN 13, 2018 Podcast

Restoring Trust: How Can the American Public Regain its Confidence in its National Security Apparatus?

There is a huge divide in the way Americans assess U.S. foreign policy. Take for example, the June G7 meeting, which ended in a ...

JUN 13, 2018 Article

Experts, Ethics and the International System

Carnegie Council senior fellow Nikolas Gvosdev highlights how Americans support continued engagement in the world to harness American power for their own prosperity and security, ...

MAY 29, 2018 Article

The Ethics of Triage

Carnegie Council senior fellow Nikolas Gvosdev outlines the concept of "democracy triage." This policy recommendation proposes that democracy promotion efforts be focused on a fewer ...

L to R: Nikolas Gvosdev, Adrian A. Basora, Maia Otarashvili. CREDIT: Amanda Ghanooni.

MAY 22, 2018 Podcast

Democracy Promotion in the Age of Trump

In this panel Adrian Basora makes a strong case for democracy as not only promoting American values but also serving U.S. interests, while Maia ...

MAY 8, 2018 Article

Engagement: What Do Voters Think

Ali Wyne notes that there is a disconnect between how Americans view U.S. foreign policy and whether or not it supports and sustains their ...

MAY 2, 2018 Article

Disengagement Meets the Army of None

Author Paul Scharre presented his book "Army of None" at Carnegie Council on May 1. The book and his talk raise ethical questions about the the ...