Simon Reich

I was born and grew up in the UK. There, I received my B.A. from the University of Essex. I initially studied in the U.S. at Brandeis University where I was awarded an M.A. Finally, I received both an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Prior to my arrival at Rutgers-Newark, I worked at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs for over two decades. I have been a professor in the Division of Global Affairs and Department of Political Science at Rutgers’ Newark campus since my appointment in 2008. I also hold an appointment as a Chercheur Associé at the Center for International Studies (CERI) at the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques – Sciences Po  (Paris).

My Research and Publications

My research interests have evolved from my initial work on global political economy to working on a variety of human, national and international security issues. My current project focuses on American and comparative grand strategy. It potentially involves three books and several articles, some online publications and editing a book series.

I have published the following books since arriving at Rutgers Newark:

·         Comparative Grand Strategy: A Framework and Cases (edited with Thierry Balzacq and Peter Dombrowski), Oxford University Press, 2019.

·         The End of Grand Strategy: US Maritime Operations in the Twenty-First Century (authored with Peter Dombrowski), Cornell University Press, 2018.

·         Good-bye Hegemony! Power and Influence in the Global System (authored with Richard Ned Lebow), Princeton University Press, 2014; the Shanghai People's Publishing House (in Chinese), 2016.

·         Global Norms, American Sponsorship and the Emerging Patterns of World Politics, Palgrave MacMillan, 2010.

·         Managing Ethnic Diversity after 9/11: Integration, Security, and Civil Liberties in Transatlantic Perspective (co-edited with Ariane Chebel d’Appollonia), Rutgers University Press, hardback 2010, paperback 2011.

·         Child Soldiers in the Age of Fractured States (co-edited with Scott Gates), University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009.

·         Immigration, Integration and Security: America and Europe in Comparative Perspective (co-edited with Ariane Chebel d’Appollonia), University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008.

I am currently working on two books (both co-authored with Thierry Balzacq) as part of a project on Comparative Grand Strategy and a short introductory book on U.S. grand strategy (with Peter Dombrowski).

My articles have appeared in numerous journals such as Comparative European Politics, Governance, International Affairs, International Interactions, International Organization, International Politics, International Security, The Pacific Review, The Review of International Political Economy, Security Studies, Strategic Studies Quarterly and Survival.

My most recent article publications in journals have included:

“Is Grand Strategy a Research Program? A Review Essay,” (with Thierry Balzacq and Peter Dombrowski), Security Studies, October 2018, 

“The EU’s Maritime Operations and the Future of European Security: Learning from Operations Atalanta and Sophia,” (with Peter Dombrowski), Comparative European Politics, August 2018, 

“Beyond the Tweets:  Continuity and Change in President Trump’s Approach to Military Operations,” (with Peter Dombrowski), Strategic Studies Quarterly, vol. 12, issue 2, June 2018, pp. 56-81, 

“Does Donald Trump have a Grand Strategy?” (with Peter Dombrowski), International Affairs, vol. 93, issue 5, September 2017, pp. 1013-1037.

‘Who is Wile E. Coyote? Power, Influence and the War on Drugs’ (with Mark Aspinwall), International Politics, (2016) vol. 53, pp. 155–175. 


‘The Strategy of Sponsorship,’ (with Peter Dombrowski), Survival (October/November 2015), Vol. 57, No. 5, PP. 121-148.

‘American and Chinese Leadership during the Global Financial Crisis: Testing Kindleberger’s Stabilization Functions,’ (with Carla Norrlof), International Area Studies Review, March 2015, pp. 1-23, 

My work has been translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Japanese and Turkish. I have sat on several journal editorial boards and regularly review book and article manuscripts for presses and journals.

I have spoken at numerous academic, governmental and non-profit venues in Asia, Europe, and North America (for an example see a video of my lecture in Vienna in 2018.) One personal highlight was being introduced by Meryl Streep when I made a speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

I have an active online presence, having published approximately 100 pieces in numerous outlets including The Conversation (where I had a regular bi-weekly column for two years), Forbes, Fortune Magazine, The Huffington Post, The New Republic, Salon.com, The Washington Monthly, and The Washington Spectator.

I have been interviewed by numerous global media outlets including the ABC (U.S.), ABC (Australia), the BBC, and Deutsche Welle. I was interviewed and quoted on several occasions by Bloomberg’s news service, Business Week, CNN, Fox News, Le Monde, Radio International Singapore, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

My Grants, Administration and Public Service

I was awarded a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship.  I have received several grants including those from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford and Sloan Foundations, the Government of Canada, and the U.S. Institute for Peace. I have also been the recipient of Distinguished Visiting fellowships from Australian National University, the Central European University (funded by the Fulbright Foundation), the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at the University of Warwick, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques – Sciences Po  (Paris), Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l'Ecole Militaire (IRSEM, Paris), the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and the Zentrum für Entwicklungforschung in Bonn, Germany.

I worked at the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment in the 1990s. I then held an appointment as Director of Research and Analysis at the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House) in London in the 2000s. I subsequently raised an endownment gift and served as the inaugural director of the Ford Institute for Human Security at the University of Pittsburgh for six years. There, I supervised a variety of projects including issues concerning immigration and refugees, human trafficking, and child soldiers before arriving at Rutgers Newark. Upon my arrival, I served as director of the Division of Global Affairs at Rutgers Newark from 2008 to 2010.

My Teaching

I have always taught in interdisciplinary programs, bridging the gap between theory and policy. I currently teach courses concerning issues of global governance; aspects of human, national and international security; American and comparative grand strategy; and theory and methods in global affairs. The central purpose of the latter course is to teach students how to write a doctoral proposal. Before arriving at Rutgers Newark, I taught courses on a variety of other issues including theories of IR, global political economy, human security, and aspects of trade and finance.

Both the University of Pittsburgh and Rutgers named student awards in my honor in recognition of my teaching and mentoring contributions (see https://es-la.facebook.com/RutgersDGA/posts/announcing-the-simon-reich-fellowship-for-research-in-global-governancesimon-rei/10155575334023320/ and http://pitdss.gspia.pitt.edu/About-GSPIA/Digital-Media-Center/News/View-Article/ArticleID/1944/Ford-Institute-announces-Simon-Reich-Human-Security-Writing-Award-Competition)

I generally supervise between five and nine doctoral dissertations with students working on a variety of issues.