Appointment: Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations

Area of study: History, Foreign Policy

Affiliation(s): King's College London, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence

Kluge Center project: Anglo-American Realpolitik in Theory and Practice

Residency: October 2013 – April 2014

Historian John Bew is the thirteenth chairholder of the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Kluge Center. Named one of the most exciting young historians in Britain by the Sunday Telegraph, Bew is a Reader in History and Foreign Policy at the War Studies Department at King’s College London and Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence.

Bew's research at the Kluge Center focused on realpolitik in Anglo-American political culture. His research will culminate in the first-ever English-language book on the concept of realpolitik in the English-speaking world, to be published by Oxford University Press.

Bew is previously the author of "Castlereagh: Enlightenment, War and Tyranny," named one of the books of the year by the Wall Street Journal, Sunday Telegraph, BBC, and Total Politics magazine; "Talking to Terrorists: Making Peace in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country"; and "The Glory of Being Britons: Civic Unionism in Nineteenth-Century Belfast." He is also a contributing writer to The National Interest and New Statesman magazines.

Publications

• “Castlereagh: Enlightenment, War and Tyranny” (2011) (catalog record)
• “The Glory of Being Britons: Civic Unionism in Nineteenth-Century Belfast” (2009) (catalog record)
• “Talking to Terrorists: Making Peace in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country” (2009) (catalog record)

Events

• “Real Realpolitik: A History” (Apr. 10, 2014)
• “Realpolitik and American Exceptionalism” (Mar. 27, 2014)
• “America, the Muslim Brotherhood and Realpolitik: Understanding the Other” (Mar. 13, 2014) - webcast coming soon

News Releases

• Three-Part Series Looks at Foreign Policy Through Lens of Realpolitik (Feb. 21, 2014)
• John Bew Named Kissinger Chair (Oct. 18, 2013)

Additional Resources

• “The Real Origins of Realpolitik” (The National Interest)

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