Dr Brian Klaas
Professor of Global Politics
Dr. Brian Klaas is Professor of Global Politics at University College London, an associate researcher at the University of Oxford, and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He was recently named one of the 25 “Top Thinkers” globally by Prospect Magazine.
Klaas is the author of five books, including Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters (2024) and Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us (2021). Klaas writes the popular The Garden of Forking Paths Substack and created the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast which has been downloaded over three million times.
Klaas is an expert on democracy, authoritarianism, American politics, political violence, elections, and the nature of power. Klaas has advised a variety of governments, US political campaigns, NATO, the European Union, the International Crisis Group, the Carter Center, multi-billion dollar investors, international NGOs, and international politicians.
In addition to his academic work, Klaas regularly engages with the broader public. He frequently appears on national television and radio outlets, including the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, Sky News, National Public Radio, Times Radio, LBC, and an array of other outlets. He previously was a weekly columnist for The Washington Post and now writes for The Atlantic magazine. Additionally his research and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Foreign Affairs,Foreign Policy, the Times Literary Supplement, The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Harper’s Magazine, and many other publications. (Millions of viewers have also seen a more lighthearted side to his research as Klaas appeared in the BBC/Netflix hit series “Cunk on Earth” with “Philomena Cunk”/Diane Morgan).
Prior to becoming an academic, Dr. Klaas worked on US political campaigns - including serving as the Policy Director / Deputy Campaign Manager for Mark Dayton’s successful bid for Governor of Minnesota in 2010.
Expertise
- US foreign policy
- Trump
- Democracy
- Authoritarian populism
- Authoritarianism