Nikolas K. Gvosdev

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

Nikolas K. Gvosdev is 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

SEP 17, 2020 Podcast

What is Asia to the U.S.? Connecting the Pacific Region to the American Doorstep, with Christopher Hill

In this wide-ranging conversation, Christopher Hill, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, among other nations, and Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev discuss U.S.-Asian ...

Satellite view of California, September 9, 2020. Source: <a href=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GOES17_geocolor_Western_US_2020-09-09_1100AM.jpg>U.S. National Weather Service/Wikimedia (Public Domain)</a>.

SEP 11, 2020 Article

Ecological Dimension of Foreign Policy

One of the emerging narratives about United States foreign policy is the use of climate change as a central organizing principle. How can ecological and ...

COVID-19 samples being studied at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, June 2020.<br> CREDIT: <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/238434/usaisec_enabling_rapid_secure_communications_for_army_covid_19_research">U.S. Army photo by Mike Walters</a>

SEP 3, 2020 Article

The Ethics of Non-Cooperation: COVID Vaccine Questions

The search for a COVID-19 vaccine is another example of how the pandemic has increased competition among nations, writes Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev. Will the ...

Secretary of State John Kerry's car, Beijing, April 2013. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/8644267001">U.S. State Dept./Alison Anzalone/Public Domain</a>.

AUG 25, 2020 Article

Hard Choices on China

The USGE program has opened its second survey on U.S. foreign policy, and this one has an emphasis on assessing the relative ranking of ...

Senator Kamala Harris in Las Vegas, April 2019. CREDIT: <a href=https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/46823600565>Gage Skidmore</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">(CC)</a>.

AUG 14, 2020 Article

Senator Kamala Harris & Foreign Policy Narratives

Joe Biden's selection of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate represents a series of shifts in terms of identity and experience. But her foreign ...

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) at the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands. <br>CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usembassythehague/41045807391">U.S. Embassy The Hague <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">(CC)</a>.

JUL 28, 2020 Article

House Democrats: Ethical Choices and Narratives

With Congressman Eliot Engel having lost his primary election in New York to Jamaal Bowman, the Democrats will need to find a new chair for ...

PPE & COVID-19 testing kits arrive in the Philippines from China, March 2020. <br>CREDIT: <a href=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China_COVID19_test_kit_PH_donation_10.jpg>Philippines Presidential Communications Operations Office/Wikimedia (CC)</a>.

JUL 28, 2020 Article

Ethical Dilemmas in Ensuring Human Security

In this blog post, Carnegie Council Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev reflects on his recent "Human Security is National Security in a Time of Pandemic" webinar ...

JUL 27, 2020 Podcast

Human Security is National Security in a Time of Pandemic, with Derek Reveron

Professor Derek Reveron, chair of the U.S. Naval War College's National Security Affairs Department, discusses how subnational and transnational forces--namely, the COVID-19 pandemic--intersect with ...

Aerial view of the Washington Monument. CREDIT: <a href=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_030926-F-2828D-307_Aerial_view_of_the_Washington_Monument.jpg>United States Navy/Wikimedia (CC)</a>.

JUL 16, 2020 Article

Bill Burns and Narratives About U.S. Foreign Policy

Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev compares diplomat Bill Burns' recent article in "The Atlantic" with his own report on U.S. Global Engagement, "The Search for ...

White House press conference, July 14, 2020. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/50115849402/">The White House/Tia Dufour/Public Domain</a>.

JUL 15, 2020 Article

The Persistence of the Trump Narrative

Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev reiterates the point that U.S. foreign policy will not snap back to its pre-Trump state, no matter who is in ...