James Traub is a journalist, author, and scholar specializing in international affairs. He is the former host of Carnegie Council's Ethics Matter interview series, a contributing editor at Foreign Policy, and a fellow at the Center on International Cooperation.
Traub has worked as a staff writer for The New Yorker and a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, reporting widely from Africa and the Middle East.
Featured Work
MAR 18, 2014 • Podcast
Ethics Matter: A Conversation with Sebastian Junger
Journalist Sebastian Junger knows about war from the inside: the horror and pain, the excitement and heightened awareness, and the fierce brotherhood between soldiers. In ...
FEB 28, 2014 • Podcast
"War on Terror," an Insider's View: A Conversation with Harold H. Koh
As legal adviser to the State Department from 2009 to 2013, Harold Koh was responsible for making judgments about the most difficult issues in the "war on ...
DEC 19, 2013 • Podcast
Ethics Matter: The Future of War, with Andrew Exum
Andrew Exum is a scholar, author, and former U.S. Army officer. In this revealing talk, he describes, in vivid detail, his days leading platoons ...
NOV 22, 2013 • Podcast
Ethics Matter: A Conversation with Online Activist Ricken Patel
A brilliant student, Ricken Patel could have had a stellar career in any field he wished. Instead he chose to live among the poor in ...
NOV 5, 2013 • Podcast
Ethics Matter: A Conversation with Writer Kurt Andersen
Journalist, novelist, entrepreneur, cultural critic, award-winning radio broadcaster--all of these describe Kurt Andersen. In this lively conversation, he talks about his career (including being fired ...
OCT 14, 2008 • Podcast
The Freedom Agenda: Why America Must Spread Democracy (Just Not the Way George Bush Did)
According to James Traub, although Bush bungled his famous Freedom Agenda—that American liberty is dependent on liberty in other lands—the concept still holds ...
FEB 12, 2007 • Podcast
Secretary or General?: The UN Secretary-General in World Politics
Known as the most impossible job on earth, the tensions between the roles of being Secretary or General have confronted every UN Secretary-General. What will ...
NOV 15, 2006 • Podcast
The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power
James Traub discusses the troubled relationship between the UN and the world's only superpower.
JUN 12, 2006 • Podcast
Debate--The United Nations: Still Relevant After All These Years?
Is the UN "I" for irrelevant, or "I" for indispensable, as Shashi Tharoor would have it? While conceding that the UN is relevant, Ruth Wedgwood ...