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Expert Bio
Joshua Kurlantzick is senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is the author, most recently, of Beijing's Global Media Offensive: China's Uneven Campaign To Influence Asia and the World. Kurlantzick was previously a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he studied Southeast Asian politics and economics and China's relations with Southeast Asia, including Chinese investment, aid, and diplomacy. Previously, he was a fellow at the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy and a fellow at the Pacific Council on International Policy. He is currently focused on China’s relations with Southeast Asia, and China’s approach to soft and sharp power, including state-backed media and information efforts and other components of soft and sharp power. He is also working on issues related to the rise of global populism, populism in Asia, and the impact of COVID-19 on illiberal populism and political freedom overall.
Kurlantzick has also served as a columnist for Time, a correspondent for The Economist based in Bangkok, a special correspondent for the New Republic, a senior correspondent for the American Prospect, and a contributing writer for Mother Jones. He also serves on the editorial board of Current History.
He is the winner of the Luce Scholarship for journalism in Asia and was selected as a finalist for the Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism in Asia. His first book, Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power Is Transforming the World, was nominated for CFR’s 2008 Arthur Ross Book Award. He is also the author of A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA, State Capitalism: How the Return of Statism is Transforming the World, and Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline in Representative Government.
Kurlantzick received his BA in political science from Haverford College.
Affiliations:
- Freedom House, contributor to Freedom in the World
- Japan Times, monthly contributor
- Pinter Politik, contributor
- World Politics Review, monthly contributor
- Diplomat Risk Intelligence, participant in expert network
- GLG Network, participant in expert network
Featured
Current Projects
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Russia saw its full-spectrum engagement with Southeast Asia pay dividends following its all-out invasion of Ukraine. But its brief interlude of greater influence in the region is now waning.
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Thailand’s national elections saw a resounding vote for democratic change, but the ruling elite have maneuvered to preserve power, potentially setting in motion another round of political upheaval.
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The PAP has made unbending integrity central to its identity, magnifying the damage the recent scandals have done to the party.
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By 2020, with the state of democracy already in dire shape, it seemed that things couldn’t get worse. And yet, in the past few years, they have.
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Prime Minister Hun Sen retained his grip on power after Cambodia’s stage-managed elections, with his party winning 120 out of 125 seats. But his long-awaited succession plan could create chaos and confusion in the country.
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China’s economic rise in Southeast Asia may have been unstoppable, but Washington has done itself no favors in the competition for economic influence.
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Thailand’s May 14 national elections could see an overwhelming opposition victory, but the military aligned with the king may try to manipulate the results. That would be a disastrous setback.
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Chinese-supported student groups in the West are being used to control discussion about China, censor critics, and lead protests against invited speakers.
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One of Beijing’s goals globally is to promote its model of technology-enabled authoritarianism. Democracies ought to share best practices on how to respond.
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Amid severe economic distress, many Laotians are increasingly undaunted by the fear of repression.
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Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy
The two-year-old military junta in Myanmar wants to hold elections this year to legitimize its rule, but steady losses in its spreading civil war have put its own existence in peril and could make a vote nearly impossible. -
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Understanding Beijing’s failures now is crucial ahead of a time when efforts to shape opinion are more sophisticated.
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