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.

Follow him on LinkedIn to receive future content translating ethics, analyzing democracy, and examining our increasingly interconnected world.

Featured Work

JUL 24, 2018 Article

The Assault on Ethics

A year and a half into the Trump presidency, its most consequential feature thus far is its assault on ethics. What began as a curiosity ...

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the 2017 G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 2017. CREDIT: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vladimir_Putin_and_Donald_Trump_at_the_2017_G-20_Hamburg_Summit_(3).jpg">Kremlin.ru (CC)</a>

JUL 24, 2018 Article

The Assault on Ethics

"A year and a half into the Trump presidency, its most consequential feature thus far is its assault on ethics," writes Carnegie Council President Joel ...

MAY 31, 2018 Podcast

Why Ethics Matter in International Affairs

How can you ensure that ethics are a core component, not only of an international affairs education, but of graduates' performance once they go out ...

MAY 1, 2018 Podcast

The Peacemakers: Leadership Lessons from Twentieth-Century Statesmanship, with Bruce Jentleson

What are the qualities and conditions that enable people to become successful peacemakers? At a time when peace seems elusive and conflict endemic, Bruce Jentleson ...

MAR 19, 2018 Article

Story of Service: Max Missel

Max Missel was born October 18, 1895 in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas, Lithuania). Five-year old Max came to the United States with his mother Lipsa and his ...

MAR 6, 2018 Article

Ethics Matter

JAN 29, 2018 Article

Was the 1928 Paris Peace Pact really a failure?

In their book, The Internationalists, Hathaway and Shapiro argue that 1928 marks a complete shift from an old world order to a new one. Before Kellogg-Briand, ...

CREDIT: <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/statue-of-liberty-landmark-liberty-1210001/">Pixabay/(CC)</a>

OCT 13, 2017 Podcast

Liberals' Lament? A Conversation between Joel Rosenthal and Devin Stewart

Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal and Senior Fellow Devin Stewart discuss the challenges to liberalism, in the United States and on the international stage, and ...

SEP 29, 2017 Podcast

The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World

To mark Carnegie Council's Centennial, Michael Ignatieff and team set out to discover what moral values people hold in common across nations. What he found ...

Ryugyong Hotel and Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, Pyongyang, North Korea. CREDIT: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victorious_Fatherland_Liberation_War_Museum_and_Ryugyong_Hotel_(11342673725).jpg">Clay Gilliland (CC)</a>

SEP 8, 2017 Podcast

North Korea: A Conversation between Joel Rosenthal and Devin Stewart

Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal and Senior Fellow Devin Stewart discuss the tense North Korea situation. What does Kim Jong-un want? How should the United ...