Stephen Walt

Stephen M. Walt is a scholar of international relations and a prominent figure in realist foreign policy thought. He holds the Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs position at Harvard Kennedy School and served as academic dean of the Kennedy School. Walt previously taught at Princeton and the University of Chicago, where he was master of the Social Sciences Collegiate Division and deputy dean of Social Sciences. He is recognized for developing balance-of-threat theory and for his critique of U.S. liberal hegemony in foreign policy.

Walt has been a resident associate at Carnegie Endowment for Peace and a guest scholar at Brookings Institution. He has consulted for the Institute of Defense Analyses, Center for Naval Analyses, and National Defense University. Walt is a contributing editor at Foreign Policy magazine, co-chair of the editorial board of International Security, and co-editor of the Cornell Studies in Security Affairs book series. His work has appeared in publications such as London Review of Books, Annual Review of Political Science, Naval War College Review, International Security, Foreign Affairs, and American Political Science Review.

Walt's publications have influenced strategic debate in government and academia. His book "The Origins of Alliances" received the Edgar S. Furniss National Security Book Award, and "Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy" was a finalist for both the Lionel Gelber International Affairs Book Award and the Arthur Ross Book Prize. "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," co-authored with John J. Mearsheimer, was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into more than 20 languages. His book "The Hell of Good Intentions: America's Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy" examines American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era. Walt is also the author of "The New Geopolitics," a newsletter series analyzing key concepts in global affairs.

Walt was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and received the International Studies Association's Distinguished Senior Scholar award. He serves as a board member at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Walt writes a weekly column for Foreign Policy and appears frequently in media, providing analysis on grand strategy, alliance management, and U.S. foreign policy.