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About Anatol Lieven

Anatol Lieven is a professor in the War Studies Department of King’s College London and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington DC. A new, updated edition of America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism, was republished in September 2012 by Oxford University Press.

Articles by Anatol Lieven

This week's editor

Manuel Serrano is Junior Editor at DemocraciaAbierta.

European integration

Six countries. Six different paths to EU integration.

No to TTIP

The secretive EU-US trade deal explained

Why Obama shouldn’t fall for Putin’s Ukrainian folly

Anatol Lieven 3 March 2014

Russia and the west have conspired to tear the country apart. Both sides must stand down now or face the consequences.

Afghanistan, then and now

Anatol Lieven 17 February 2014

Modern urban versus traditional rural Afghanistan, then and now. Time may have moved on, but the problems are big enough to be extremely concerning.

The future of democracy in America

Anatol Lieven 15 October 2012

The Tea Parties draw strength from deep roots in the American tradition. In his updated edition of America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism, the author says regardless of who wins the elections in November, this radical conservative tendency poses a serious threat to the future of US democracy. 5,000 word essay

'We think of Zakir as Nick Clegg': Taliban perspectives on reconciliation

Michael Semple, Anatol Lieven, Theo Farrell, and Rudra Chaudhuri 20 September 2012

%22Bordering" This summer, former leading figures in the Afghan Taliban and former mediators met the authors to discuss Taliban ideas for a peace settlement. This RUSI briefing paper affords rare insights into currents of opinion within the Taliban.

Pakistan: the hard reality

Anatol Lieven 21 June 2011

Pakistan is too often portrayed in flawed and reductive ways that flatten its complexity and offer misleading guidance to policy-makers. This makes it all the more important to acknowledge some difficult truths about the country, says Anatol Lieven.

Insights from the Afghan field

Anatol Lieven 25 October 2010

Security policy in Afghanistan may be powered by sublimated imperial nostalgia, but most of the really valuable practical memories and lessons of empire have long since been forgotten. A review of three recent books on the Taliban

Understanding Pakistan's military

Anatol Lieven 9 August 2010

A guided tour of Pakistan’s Army, from its role within Pakistani nationalism, prospects of mutiny, and the relationship of the ISI to the Jihadi world, to hostilities with India, suggests that some key ways of defusing the situation may be being neglected

Pakistan’s American problem

Anatol Lieven 8 May 2009

A suspicion of the United States in Pakistan outweighs opposition to the Taliban. Understand this and much else becomes clear, says Anatol Lieven.

(This article was first published on 6 May 2009)

Pakistan: prospects and perils

Anatol Lieven 21 November 2007

What's in store for Pakistan? Anatol Lieven forecasts. Listen now

The Iran we have

Anatol Lieven 5 December 2006

Should the United States open talks with Iran to help ease its crisis over Iraq? As the prospect of Washington-Tehran dialogue moves up the political agenda, Anatol Lieven takes issue with the view of the former crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi.

Israel and the Arabs: peace, not diktats

Anatol Lieven 24 July 2006

An agreed, just settlement of the core conflict between Israel and the Palestinians – not punitive Israeli expeditions – is the only way to peace in the middle east, says Anatol Lieven.

Large rocks in the stream ahead

Anatol Lieven 22 December 2005

In the last days of 2005, leading thinkers and scholars from around the world share their fears, hopes and expectations of 2006. Forty-nine of openDemocracy’s distinguished contributors, from Mariano Aguirre to Slavoj Zizek, Neal Ascherson to Jonathan Zittrain – offer their predictions for the coming year. Since this is openDemocracy, we did not expect them to agree. We were not disappointed. (Part Two).

Democratic failure: festering lilies smell worse than weeds

Anatol Lieven 27 October 2005

“We must keep firmly in mind that democracies can fail.” The barriers to democratic progress in the world today are far deeper than Anthony Barnett & Isabel Hilton allow, while Roger Scruton’s depiction of “the west and the rest” is equally flawed, argues Anatol Lieven.

I have to endorse most of what John Dunn argues in his response to Anthony Barnett & Isabel Hilton’s article “Democracy and openDemocracy”.

Bush's choice: messianism or pragmatism?

Anatol Lieven 22 February 2005

George W Bush’s language of freedom is not benevolent idealism but ideological weapon, says Anatol Lieven.

Israel, the United States, and truth: a reply to Emanuele Ottolenghi

Anatol Lieven 20 October 2004

Anatol Lieven responds to Emanuele Ottolenghi’s fierce criticism of him in openDemocracy.

Israel and the American antithesis

Anatol Lieven 19 October 2004

The alliance between the United States and Israel has become a fusion of regressive nationalisms that carries great dangers for both states and for the world, says Anatol Lieven in an edited extract from the Israel chapter of his book, “America Right or Wrong”.

America right or wrong

Anatol Lieven 8 September 2004

The Bush administration responded to 9/11 by exploiting a force deeply rooted in United States thinking and behaviour: American nationalism. This force, says Anatol Lieven in an extract from his new book America Right or wrong, is now deforming the country’s relationship with the world and damaging America itself.

Missionaries and marines: Bush, Blair and democratisation

Anatol Lieven 18 September 2002

Britain is cultivating a wilful amnesia about the fall-out from empire and war, in supporting American calls for democracy throughout the Arab world. Applied to the Middle East, could anything be more dangerous?