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

DEC 20, 2017 Article

A New World? Changes in the Global Order

Lowell Schwartz of the Naval War College says that we are in the midst of a major shift: the prevailing assumptions of the last 25 years ...

DEC 8, 2017 Article

America's Selective Burden Shedding?

Instead of the standard "burden sharing," Daniel Hamilton says that the U.S. under Trump is engaging in "selective burden shedding." In other words, the ...

SEP 13, 2016 Podcast

U.S. Elections & Brexit: Can Liberalism Survive?

Why are liberal values eroding across the world? Will this continue? Realist Stephen Walt says maybe not, if the U.S. can set a good ...

"Bronze Horseman" (monument to Peter the Great) in Saint Petersburg, Russia. CREDIT: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-241493128/stock-photo-peter-the-great-monument-in-winter-the-bronze-horseman-st-petersburg-russia.html">Shutterstock</a>

SEP 14, 2015 Podcast

Russia's Soft Power: A Matter for Church and State

If other countries wish to understand Russia, they need to have a grasp of her values, which provide the moral framework for her policies and ...

L to R: David C. Speedie, Dr. Nikolas K. Gvosdev, Ambassador John A. Cloud. CREDIT: Gusta Johnson, Carnegie Council

JUL 20, 2015 Podcast

Ukraine and the Future of Reforms

In May 2015, a time of crisis not only for Ukraine but also for the future of the entire EU, Cloud and Gvosdev went to Lithuania, ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-168137429/stock-photo-breaking-chain-group-as-a-business-concept-for-organization-stress-and-partnership-failure-as-a.html?src=belUKHfXDLO2u8hg6G5JMw-1-42">Shutterstock</a>

APR 16, 2014 Article

Ukraine, The Great Powers, Budapest, and "Astheneia"

Was it unethical for the United States to give Ukraine non-binding security guarantees as an inducement for giving up nuclear weapons?

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-129683057/stock-vector-usa-and-chinese-grunge-flag.html?src=uMfVM_BxZH9iaq3VqHHamQ-1-0"> USA and China Flag </a> via Shutterstock

MAR 19, 2014 Article

The Ethics of Avoiding Conflict with China

Is there a policy prescription that can avoid turning predictions of a Sino-American clash into a self-fulfilling prophecy?

CREDIT: Dennis Doyle, Carnegie Council

SEP 9, 2011 Podcast

What Should be the Next Phase in U.S.-Russia Relations?

Reflecting on U.S.-Russia relations, Thomas Graham and Nikolas Gvosdev agree that there is an urgent need to find a common strategic purpose that ...

CREDIT: Dennis Doyle, Carnegie Council

SEP 9, 2011 Transcript

What Should be the Next Phase in U.S.-Russia Relations?

Reflecting on U.S.-Russia relations, Thomas Graham and Nikolas Gvosdev agree that there is an urgent need to find a common strategic purpose that ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobaliciouslondon/4951912801/" target="_blank">Bob Bob</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC</a>)

MAY 27, 2011 Podcast

Rise of the Rest IV: Critical Regions in Crisis

Optimistic and bleak by turns, a panel of experts analyzes the dilemmas facing the rising and existing powers--from protests across the Middle East, to the ...