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James Traub

Author/Journalist

James Traub is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, where he has worked since 1998. From 1994 to 1997, he was a staff writer for The New Yorker. He has also written for The New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic and elsewhere. His articles have been widely reprinted and anthologized. He has written extensively about international affairs and especially the United Nations.

In recent years, he has reported from Iran, Iraq, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Vietnam, India, Kosovo and Haiti. He has also written often about national politics and urban affairs, including education, immigration, race, poverty and crime.

His books include, The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power; The Devil's Playground: A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square; City On A Hill, a book on open admissions at City College; and The Freedom Agenda: Why America Must Spread Democracy (Just Not the Way George Bush Did). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

James Traub on Africa’s Mixed Hopes

James Traub sees a few reasons, based on economic growth, for optimism in Africa.

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James Traub on Promoting Democracy Through Free Trade

Love it or hate it, globalization has become a fact of life. The key question is whether trade can be used to help impoverished countries.

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James Traub on the United Nations

Citing Ban Ki-Moon, James Traub says we need to choose a secretary general for his “confidence not for his harmlessness.”

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James Traub on Winning Back Our Allies

We need to return to our collective enterprises like the UN and the IMF, advises James Traub.

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Obama’s Global Priorities

New York Times magazine contributor James Traub on building states, Obama-style.

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James Traub on a Democratic Middle East

James Traub says Latin America seemed an unlikely candidate for democracy in he 1970s, so there’s no reason the Middle East can’t go the same way.

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James Traub on China

If you are an autocrat in the developing world, James Traub notes China offers an unbeatable deal.

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James Traub on Democracy in Egypt

James Traub offers Egypt as an example of how the US can quietly affect civil society.

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James Traub on How to Engage with Russia

James Traub says Russia’s diplomatic concerns preclude any democracy promotion.

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James Traub Reevaluates Ronald Reagan

Reagan institutionalized democracy promotion and his policies led to the deposition of several dictators, but it took him a while to get there, says James Traub.

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James Traub’s Recipe for Spreading Democracy

The institution building that goes on behind the scenes is just as important as electing democratic leaders, James Traub says.

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James Traub on Building Democratic Institutions

The challenge, says James Traub, is to promote institutions without seeming like a colonizer.

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James Traub on Partisan Politics and Promoting Democracy

Reagan signaled a new activism in promoting democracy among Republicans, James Traub reflects.

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James Traub on 100 Years of Nation Building

James Traub cites Germany and Japan as the resounding post-war successes.

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James Traub on a Values-Driven Foreign Policy

James Traub says George W. Bush exhausted the nation’s patience for “grandiose ventures.”

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