Robert D. Kaplan

Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute

Browse FPRI articles by Robert Kaplan

Robert Kaplan is an FPRI Senior Fellow, a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, and the Class of 1960 Distinguished Visiting Professor in National Security at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis. He is the best-selling author of numerous books on international affairs and travel, the latest of which is Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground (Random House, 2007). In the 1980s, Kaplan was the first American writer to warn in print about a future war in the Balkans. Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush are both readers of Kaplan's books, and Kaplan has briefed President George W. Bush in the White House.

Balkan Ghostswas chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the “best books” of 1993, and by Amazon.com as one of the best travel books of all time. The Arabists, The Ends of the Earth, An Empire Wilderness, Eastward to Tartary, and Warrior Politics were all chosen by The New York Times as “notable” books of the year. An Empire Wilderness was chosen by The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times as one of the best books of 1998. The Wall Street Journal named The Arabists as one of the best five books written about America’s historical involvement in the Middle East.

Kaplan’s “The Coming Anarchy,” in the February 1994 Atlantic Monthly, about how population rises, urbanization, and resource depletion is undermining governments, was hotly debated in foreign-language translations around the world. So was his December, 1997 Atlantic cover story, “Was Democracy Just A Moment?” According to U.S. News & World Report, “President Clinton was so impressed with Kaplan, he ordered an interagency study of these issues, and it agreed with Kaplan’s conclusions.”

Besides The Atlantic Monthly, Kaplan’s essays have appeared on the editorial pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. He has been a consultant to the U.S. Army’s Special Forces Regiment, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Marines. He has lectured at military war colleges, the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, major universities, the CIA, and business forums. Kaplan has delivered the Secretary of State’s Open Forum Lecture at the U. S. State Department. He has reported from 100 countries. Two earlier books of his, Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea, have been re-issued.