Joel H. Rosenthal

President, Carnegie Council

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

Democratic presidential candidate Barack <br>Obama. Photo by <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2175936409/">Steve Jurvetson</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>).

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 ...

Joel Rosenthal headshot. CREDIT: Anadolu Agency

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 ...

DEC 17, 2014 Podcast

The Rise of ISIS: Implications for U.S. Strategy, Interests, and Values

How did ISIS grow so quickly? What is the best strategy to overcome it and how long will it take? How should the U.S. ...

SEP 22, 2014 Podcast

Podcast with Joel Rosenthal and Devin Stewart for Global Ethics Day

What is Global Ethics Day? "Our dream is that this becomes a global educational effort and that people come to learn from each other from ...

SEP 3, 2014 Podcast

World War to a Global Ethic

"We come here—100 years to the day from the calamitous events of the summer of 1914—to remember, to take stock, and to recommit to the ...

Michael Ignatieff, Joel Rosenthal, George Rupp, Mustafa Cerić, Adam Roberts, David Rodin, and Ivo Banac (L to R). <br>CREDIT: Irfan Redzovic

SEP 3, 2014 Podcast

Sarajevo Panel Discussion

In this wide-ranging conversation, participants from the Sarajevo Symposium discuss the past, present, and future of the former Yugoslav states with a focus on Bosnia ...

AUG 6, 2014 Podcast

Carnegie's Vision for Peace: WNYC's Brian Lehrer Interviews Joel Rosenthal

On the eve of the 100th anniversary of World War I, Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal discusses the legacy of Andrew Carnegie, who thought that ...

JUL 31, 2014 Article

Carnegie’s Vision for Peace: WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Interviews Joel Rosenthal

Transcript of an interview on The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC.  “A little over 100 years ago, in February of 1914, the industrialist Andrew Carnegie started an organization ...

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina via <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-134191220/stock-photo-sarajevo-bosnia-and-herzegovina.html">Shutterstock</a>

JUN 26, 2014 Article

We Have a Plan: From Sarajevo to Baghdad

How should we mark the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the event that led to WWI? Here in Sarajevo, remembering its ...