Thomas Wright

Thomas Wright is executive director of studies at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He also lectures in U.S. national security policy at the Harris School for Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Previously, Wright served as a senior researcher for the “Princeton Project on National Security,” a multi-year bipartisan project of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and was the principal drafter of the final report titled Forging a World of Liberty Under Law. He earned his doctorate from Georgetown University in 2007 and was awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton University. His area of expertise is international relations with a special focus on Europe, multilateralism, and U.S. foreign policy. His work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, the Washington Quarterly, Survival, Orbis, Prospect Magazine, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Diplomat, and a number of international newspapers and media outlets. At the Council, he is directing projects on multilateralism, the transatlantic relationship, soft power in Asia, and public opinion and US foreign policy, amongst others.

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Recent Publications:

• "The Transatlantic Alliance in a Multipolar World" (with Richard Weitz), Project Report for The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, November 2010
• America Must Find a New China Policy, The Financial Times, August 9, 2010
• “Why China’s Gambit Failed”, The Diplomat, July 28, 2010
• “Review Essay” (of Books on the Relative Decline of American Power), Orbis, Summer 2010, pp 479-488
• “Strategic Engagement’s Track Record”, The Washington Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 3, July 2010, pp 35-60
• “The G-20 and Global Governance: An Exchange,” Thomas Wright and David Shorr, Survival, Vol. 52, No. 2, March/ April 2010, pp 181-198
• "Learning the Right Lessons from the 1940s,” in Daniel Drezner ed., Avoiding Trivia: The Role of Strategic Planning in American Foreign Policy, Washington DC, Brookings Institution Press, 2009, 125-136
• "Implications of the Financial Crisis for Soft Power in East Asia,"  Report of a Workshop Hosted by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and The East Asia Institute, November 2009
• “Toward Effective Multilateralism: Why Bigger is Not Always Better,” The Washington Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3, July 2009, 163-180,
• “Asia Still Likes America,” with David Shambaugh, International Herald Tribune, February 18, 2009
• “On Reforming the International Order,” Policy Analysis Brief for The Stanley Foundation, February 2009
• "Obama Needs to Re-engage Europe,” The Toronto Star, December 4, 2008
• “Is Europe Ready,” Prospect Magazine, December 2008
•  Introduction to G-20 online Forum, with Carlos Pascual, November 14, 2008
• “Rising Powers and International Institutions,”  with John Ikenberry, Report for The Century Foundation, June 2008
• "What’s at Stake in the American Empire Debate,” Daniel H. Nexon and Thomas Wright, American Political Science Review, Vol. 101, No. 2, May 2007, pp 253-271,

In the News:

• Quoted in Michael Hirsh, “We’re No 11”, Newsweek Magazine, August 12, 2010
• Quoted in Stephen Walt, “A Realistic Approach to China,” Foreign Policy, August 9, 2010
• Quoted in Daniel Drezner, How I would grade Obama's Foreign Policy to Date, Foreign Policy, August 5, 2010
• Quoted in Will Inboden, "Judging Obama's White House on Engagement," Foreign Policy, July 15, 2010
• Speech to the Annual Conference of the British Council’s Transatlantic Network (TN2020) on Obama’s foreign policy
• Quoted in Martin Walker, "Who Will Plug the Gap in Global Governance," Executive Agenda, Summer 2010
• Interviewed on soft power for BBC documentary on soft power, broadcast May 17 2010
• Quoted in Jill Dougherty, "Report: US Should Marginalize Religious Extremists, Not Religion," CNN, February 25 2010
• Reviewed in Roger Kanet, "Foreign Policy Making in a Democratic Society," International Studies Review, Vol. 12 2010, pp 123-127
• Quoted in “On Maiden Mission, Clinton Bows to Asia’s New Power,” AFP, February 12 2009
• Cited in Daniel Drezner, China's Soft Power Hits the Brick Wall of Economics, Foreign Policy, December 11 2009
• On Judging Panel for Prospect Magazine’s Most Influential Public Intellectual of 2008. See “An Intellectual Surge,” Prospect Magazine, January 2009