Jonathan Tepperman
Verified
Former Editor-in-Chief of @ForeignPolicy. Before that: @ForeignAffairs and @Newsweek. Author of THE FIX. Half Canadian; fully Brooklyn. *feba599f
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Jonathan Tepperman
The American idea turns 250 – Editor's Note | George W. Bush Presidential Center
“What is this you call property?” the Shawnee chief Tecumseh is said to have asked U.S. officials in 1810 while negotiating over the future of his people’s lands. “It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother.” More than 200 years later, Tecumseh’s words offer a powerful reminder of something Americans often forget: that from its very beginning, the country has been not just a place but an idea – and one that different people have understood in radically different ways.
Populism won’t help U.S. workers. Here’s what will
Protection, nationalism, and government intrusion won’t fix the U.S. economy. Doing that will take removing the barriers to upward mobility. We live in a populist age. Widespread discontent has swept unlikely politicians to the top of both political parties, and those politicians are pursuing unorthodox policies to respond to the concerns of the American people, with a particular focus on workers. This impulse can be seen on both the left and the right.
In defense of billionaires
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. (Photo Agency via Shutterstock) Billionaires make easy villains. And no wonder. To quote the historian Bernard Lewis, “It is not possible to be rich, strong, and successful and be loved by those who are none of these things.” Attacking the uberwealthy makes for vivid campaign soundbites. Billionaires serve as handy populist punching bags, reliable targets for social-media outrage.
Connecting on campus
U.S. universities are the ideal place to teach Americans how to cooperate In April, Harvard released two long-awaited taskforce reports on antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias, drawn from more than 50 listening sessions and hundreds of student accounts. In some 500 pages, the reports detail the ways identity-based tensions have fractured life on campus, including the hostility and social exclusion facing Jewish students and the stereotyping and name-calling facing Muslim students.
Understanding the other
Persistent misperceptions are what keep Americans divided. It’s time we get to know one another “Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment; it is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.” It’s been 24 years since President George W. Bush spoke those words in his first inaugural address, and, over that time, America’s crisis of distrust and dehumanization has only intensified.
Profiles in Pluralism
Americans who are keeping this country united
El hombre que predijo la caída soviética, desafió a Kissinger y marcó la política exterior de EE.UU.
En 1950, un emigrante de 22 años con un apellido impronunciable que vivía en una ciudad canadiense helada escribió una tesis de maestría que predijo la caída de la Unión Soviética y contribuyó a poner en marcha la estrategia que finalmente aseguró su colapso. Este episodio se menciona al inicio de Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America’s Great Power Prophet (Zbig: La vida de Zbigniew Brzezinski, el profeta del gran poder de Estados Unidos).
Review | The brilliant immigrant who advised presidents and predicted the Soviet Union’s fall
In 1950, a 22-year-old émigré with an unpronounceable name living in a frigid Canadian city wrote a master’s thesis that predicted the fall of the Soviet Union — and helped to set in motion the strategy that eventually ensured its collapse.
A new conservative foreign policy
Why traditional U.S. values require advancing freedom around the globe. Historically, U.S. political parties have been incredibly malleable. Ever since a two-party system crystallized in the American election of 1800, the party out of power has had enormous incentives to mold its electoral platform to be the inverse of the policies enacted by the party in power.
How the Right got its groove back
Young voters are embracing the Republican Party. But the GOP must adapt if it hopes to keep them. After nearly two decades in the wilderness, conservatives have started to feel cool again. As progressives try to avoid being “cringe” or – even worse, irrelevant – the Right has begun to enjoy a new popularity among young Americans. Not long ago, the situation was reversed.
America First needs American values
U.S. foreign policy works best when it recognizes that power and idealism go hand-in-hand. The free world is the outer perimeter of American security, an engine of American prosperity, and a megaphone for American influence. U.S. foreign policy should aim to preserve, protect, and defend the free world. That may sound obvious. That is because it was obvious to most U.S. voters and policymakers from 1945 to 2016.
Can the US stop the brewing nuclear arms race before it erupts?
Skip to content Just a few months after the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it began trying to abolish these horrifying new weapons. In 1946, the U.S. government proposed decommissioning all of its atomic bombs and putting the related technology under international control if other states would do the same.
Opinion - Can the US stop the brewing nuclear arms race before it erupts?
Just a few months after the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it began trying to abolish these horrifying new weapons. In 1946, the U.S. government proposed decommissioning all of its atomic bombs and putting the related technology under international control if other states would do the same.
From service into students
LeNaya Hezel details the difficulties involved in making the transition from the military to higher education – and explains how to help our veterans succeed In 2023, more than 862,000 U.S. veterans used their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to get a postsecondary education. The benefits of such instruction are obvious.
George W. Bush Presidential Center
As much of the world ages and faces rapid population decline, one region – Africa – stands out as an exception. Already huge, its youthful population is growing fast. It’s also richly endowed with vast natural resources, further contributing to its potential. Yet the United States has paid Africa little attention in recent years – an oversight that rivals such as Russia and China have noticed and taken advantage of.
How to prepare America for demographic decline
The U.S. population will soon grow older, smaller, and more diverse. The changes will impact almost every aspect of American power, society, and the economy. America is in the early days of a vast demographic transition. In the coming decades, the U.S. population will grow far more slowly than ever before, and it will become much older and more racially diverse. This shift will transform the country in many ways, and the United States is not prepared. Let’s start with the U.S. economy.
The aging states of America
The United States is experiencing rapid growth in its older population, a triumphant result of long-term investments in health and medicine. There have never before been so many older Americans – particularly relative to working-age Americans. And the proportion of the country 65 and older will only keep growing in the years ahead: A decade from now, the number of older Americans will surpass those under 18 for the first time in history.
Why free societies thrive – even when they age
An individual's household register and a marriage certificate from Shanghai, China on August 15, 2024. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images) Anticipating and adapting to demographic shifts is a long-term strategic challenge that governments of all types will struggle to overcome in the years ahead.
The Anti-Authoritarian Handbook
China Russia On May 28, the republic of Georgia was thrown into uproar when its parliament, overriding a presidential veto, passed a controversial new law requiring media and nongovernmental organizations that get more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence.” On May 28, the republic of Georgia was thrown into uproar when its parliament, overriding a presidential veto, passed a controversial new law requiring media and nongovernmental...
Engaging Africa on its own terms
How can U.S. leadership in Africa better advance both African and U.S. interests? Elevating the importance and intensity of the relationship would benefit both sides. The United States needs Africa’s help to shore up the global liberal order in multilateral institutions, where it is being contested by China. The continent’s renewable resources, strategic minerals, and energy reserves are central to the struggle to address climate change and make the transition to a green economy.
Protecting those who protect us
Disinformation is one of the greatest threats now facing U.S. democracy. The ability of U.S. citizens to accurately perceive reality – along with their commitment to the rules-based order established by the Constitution – is being steadily undermined by this increasingly dangerous phenomenon. Not only is the spread of false information inherently harmful, but disinformation is also breeding a type of radicalization that all too often devolves into violent extremism.
The fight for the right to educate girls
Around the world, female students face extra obstacles. Nowhere are those worse than in Afghanistan. But one groundbreaking school has found a way. In communities around the world, equitable access to education remains a persistent problem. In most places, girls face extra obstacles due to deeply embedded gender bias and antiquated norms.
The Catalyst Explores Solutions to Problems Around the Globe — After Hours Roundtable | George W. Bush Presidential Center
Listen The Strategerist Podcast Problems and pessimism tend to overwhelm the daily news cycle. What gets less attention are the incredible solutions governments and organizations have devised to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues. That’s why Senior Fellow and Editor-in-Chief of The Catalyst: A Journal of Ideas from the Bush Institute Jonathan Tepperman set out to release an issue dedicated entirely to exploring solutions to problems around the globe called The Fix.
How Ukraine remade its military
In just eight years, Kyiv took a force that could barely fight and turned into one that could stand down a superpower. In February 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine for the first time, Kyiv’s armed forces quickly crumbled. Or to be more precise: They would have crumbled, had Ukraine actually fielded a military worthy of the name. On paper, the country’s armed forces were formidable, but on the ground, things were very different.
George W. Bush Presidential Center
How journalists, by working together across borders, can expose and help bring down transnational crime. Kleptocrats, corrupt officials, and organized crime networks frequently hide, launder, and spend their ill-gotten gains across multiple countries and legal jurisdictions.
Can China recover
China is trying to reopen. But President Xi Jinping is undermining his own attempts to rebuild the economy. As I made my way toward the departure gate at Shanghai’s airport recently, I was struck by the fact that, several months after China ended its “zero-Covid” policy and reopened its borders, two-thirds of airport shops remained closed.
Editor's Note | George W. Bush Presidential Center
In the two-plus years since The Catalyst last dedicated an issue to China, the country has changed in profound ways. The Ukraine war, the COVID-19 pandemic, and President Xi Jinping’s consolidation of near-absolute power have dramatically altered China’s domestic outlook, its geopolitical position, and its strategy. So we thought it was time to turn to a group of top-tier experts to ask what it all means: for China, the United States, and the world.
China’s Dangerous Decline
Sign in and save to read later Print this article Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Get a link Page url Request Reprint Permissions The last two months have been among the most momentous in recent Chinese history. First came the 20th Party Congress, which President Xi Jinping used to extirpate his few remaining rivals.
A Nuanced History of the Forces Shaping U.S.-Israel Relations (Published 2022)
THE ARC OF A COVENANT: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, by Walter Russell Mead For many decades now, a supposed mystery has lurked at the heart of American foreign policy: Why has the United States supported Israel so staunchly and for so long, especially when doing so seems to come at a high cost in blood, treasure and world opinion?
Truth and Consequences
Sign in and save to read later Print this article Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Get a link Page url Request Reprint Permissions A BRIEF HISTORY OF TRUTH Since September 11, most talk about international justice has focused on what to do with Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorists, if and when they are caught.
The Unexpected Peacemaker: Steven Cook on Turkey's New Tactics
GEOPOLITICS As much of the world remains focused on the war in Ukraine, one region—the Middle East—has recently experienced an unexpected flurry peacemaking, with longtime enemies holding face-to-face talks for the first time in years. At the center of almost all the activity is an unlikely figure: Turkey’s autocratic and combative president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After years of aggressively trying to dominate the region, Erdogan seems to have changed his mind—or at least his tactics.
Playing Hardball: Kenneth Roth on His Three Decades Leading Human Rights Watch
GEOPOLITICS Last week, Ken Roth, who’s led Human Rights Watch for nearly 30 years, announced that he was stepping down. Over the course of his career, Roth, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, has had a profound impact on the organization and the cause he serves. What was once a modest outfit of some 60 people with a budget of $7 million is now a major global operation of 552 staffers operating in more than 100 countries and with a budget of close to $100 million.
The Art of the Possible: Bob Rae on the UN's Relevance Today
GEOPOLITICS As the United States and other Western democracies keep looking for ways to help Ukraine—think of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Kyiv over the weekend or President Joe Biden’s request to Congress for an additional $33 billion in aid—there’s been little talk (at least in the United States) about involving the one institution that was supposedly designed for problems like this: the United Nations. And that’s a departure from the past.
Can Israel’s Government Survive? Aluf Benn on the Unlikely Premiership of Naftali Bennett
GEOPOLITICS Overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and the controversy surrounding Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s attempt to act as a neutral mediator between Kyiv and Moscow, Israel’s domestic politics recently re-entered crisis mode. Thanks to the defection of a member of Bennett’s parliamentary coalition, his government is now teetering on the edge of collapse.
Shine a Light: Bernard-Henry Lévy on the reporter-as-activist
IDEAS Fifty years ago, Bernard-Henri Lévy left the promise of a comfortable life in French academia to volunteer in Bangladesh, then fighting a brutal civil war to break free from Pakistan. In the decades since, the French philosopher, writer, film-maker, and magazine publisher has continued to travel the globe, relentlessly documenting atrocities that most of us would rather ignore.
The Least Bad Option: Célia Belin and Agneska Bloch on the French Election
GEOPOLITICS French voters go to the polls on Sunday in the second and final round of their country’s presidential election. On the surface, things look a lot like France’s last presidential election, in 2017. The two candidates are the same: Marine Le Pen and the incumbent, President Emmanuel Macron. And once again, France’s traditionally dominant center-right and center-left parties—the Republicans and the Socialists—were knocked out in the first round on April 10.
Justice for Ukraine: Harold Koh on International Law
GEOPOLITICS As the war in Ukraine grinds on, and ever more evidence of Russian war crimes emerges, Ukrainians and people around the world have begun demanding justice. But what help can international law provide—especially while Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in control of a vast, nuclear-armed military and security apparatus?
Bearing Witness: Tatiana Felgengauer on the Plight of Russia's Independent Media
GEOPOLITICS A few days after the Ukraine crisis began, the Russian government passed two new laws making it virtually impossible to report the truth about what is happening in the war. Most of Russia’s beleaguered independent journalists—whose lives and work had become increasingly restricted and perilous over the last decade—decided that it was finally time to leave the country. Tatiana Felgengauer is one of the few who remained.
The Killer in the Kremlin: Samuel Ramani on Putin's Strategy
GEOPOLITICS As always, we are providing our Ukraine coverage free for everyone. But we’re a nonprofit dedicated to bringing high-minded, nonpartisan, authoritative analysis to a global audience. That takes resources. So if you find our work useful or interesting, please consider joining our community and making a donation. You can do that by upgrading to a paid subscription, becoming a founding member, or giving a paid subscription as a gift.
The Bear Breaks Down: Andrei Soldatov on Russia’s Self-Destruction
GEOPOLITICS About 20 years ago, Andrei Soldatov, a Russian newspaper reporter, co-founded a website called Agentura.ru devoted to monitoring the activities of Russia’s security services. The experience turned him into one of the world’s leading experts on Russia’s secretive intelligence and military agencies. In Moscow’s eyes, it also turned him into a dangerous man.
How Putin Just Revealed Democracy’s Secret Superpower
GEOPOLITICS Readers note: This is the first essay I’m publishing to our Substack in my own voice. Let us know what you think.— JT Recent years have not been good ones for democracy. The U.S. model has been tarnished by hyper-partisanship, gridlock, fake news, the rise of Trump, his mishandling of COVID, and Biden’s inability to push through his reform agenda.
A Fine Balance: Israel's Role in Ukraine
GEOPOLITICS As the war in Ukraine drags on, Russia’s isolation grows by the day. Unprecedented sanctions have virtually sealed off its economy (with the important exception of its energy industry). Hundreds of multinational corporations, from designer goods-chains to fast-food outlets, have pulled out of Russia.
Why Russia is Losing: Gen. David Petraeus on the War in Ukraine
GEOPOLITICS With the war in Ukraine now almost a month old, the fighting has entered an ugly stalemate. Russia’s once-vaunted military has bogged down in the face of Ukraine’s fierce resistance. With the possible exception of Mariupol, Russia has failed to capture any major cities, and with Ukraine launching counterattacks and ambushes, the Russians are suffering as many as a thousandcasualties per day.
Shocked: Jason Bordoff on What the Ukraine Crisis Means for Energy Markets
MONEY Although the severe Western sanctions imposed on Russia since the start of its war in Ukraine include an explicit carve-out for energy sales, the crisis has already sent oil and gas prices through the roof (though they edged back down again recently, possibly due to China’s growing COVID wave). Before the war began, Russia was the world’s third-largest oil producer, and supplied a huge share of Europe’s natural gas.
Join us Friday for a Live Conversation on China and Ukraine with Kevin Rudd
We’re writing to invite you to a special event on the Ukraine crisis. This Friday, March 18 at 2:00 pm ET, The Octavian Report is hosting an interactive online discussion featuring Kevin Rudd, former prime minister of Australia and the current president of the Asia Society, in conversation with our new editor-in-chief, Jonathan Tepperman. You can register to attend here.
Putin in His Labyrinth: Alexander Gabuev on the View from Moscow
GEOPOLITICS While Russia’s increasing isolation may be a well deserved consequence of its brutal war in Ukraine, it nonetheless poses several dangers for the West. One is that the Russian public will lose its last access to honest reporting about what’s happening in the United States, in Ukraine, and in their own country. Another is that figuring out what the Russian people are thinking, and their government is planning, will become even harder for those of us on the outside.
The End of the Affair? Kevin Rudd on China's Relationship with Russia
GEOPOLITICS In the last week, China’s influence on the Ukraine crisis—which, while indirect, was big to begin with—has only grown. Severe Western sanctions on Russia have deepened Moscow’s dependence on Beijing; China is now the only major country that remains fully on Russia’s side. Or does it?
How Putin Saved NATO: Adm. James Stavridis on Ukraine's Effect on the West
GEOPOLITICS Less than four years ago, when French President Emmanuel Macron declared NATO brain dead, it made waves across the Atlantic—but not because everyone disagreed with him. Now, thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the organization is back and bristling with energy, as it helps roll back Putin’s advances and deter him from further aggression.
A Dangerous Mind: Angela Stent on Understanding Putin
GEOPOLITICS What was Putin thinking? In the last few weeks, Russia’s president has made so many strange mistakes—from assuming he could easily seize Ukraine to expecting his actions would divide the West—that many analysts have been left scratching their heads, wondering what’s going through his mind and whether he’s still thinking capable of rational thought in the first place.
A Dangerous Dance: Evan Feigenbaum on China's Role in Ukraine
Geopolitics For all the analysis of the Ukraine war that’s been churned out since Russia invaded the country last Thursday, one key angle remains underexplored: the role of China. As Russia’s strongest strategic partner and one of the few countries to have taken its side in the crisis, China’s influence on what happens in Ukraine is enormous. For that reason, we’ll be publishing several interviews in the coming days that look at China’s role and the mindset of its leader, Xi Jinping.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Jonathan
Contact Jonathan, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack