Brian Klaas
{{more references|date=February 2025}}
{{short description|American political scientist and journalist (born 1986)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Brian Klaas
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1986|6|29}}
| birth_place = Golden Valley, Minnesota, U.S.
| alma_mater = {{ubl|
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| occupation = {{Hlist|Academic|author|columnist}}
| years_active =
| subjects = Democratization, Chaos theory, American Politics
| website = {{URL|brianpklaas.com}}
| signature =
| footnotes =
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Brian Paul Klaas (born 29 June 1986) is an American political scientist, a contributing writer at The Atlantic,{{Cite web |last=Klaas |first=Brian |title=Brian Klaas |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/author/brian-klaas/ |access-date=2022-08-11 |website=The Atlantic |language=en-US}} and an associate professor in global politics at University College London.
He co-authored How to Rig an Election (2018) and authored Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us (2021) and Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters (2024). Klaas was recently named one of the 25 top thinkers globally for 2025 by Prospect magazine.{{Cite news|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/worlds-top-thinker/68676/25-thinkers-for-a-world-on-the-brink|title=25 thinkers for an uncertain world|last=Team|first=Prospect|date=2024-12-04|work=Prospect|access-date=2025-01-09|language=en-UK}}
Early life and education
Klaas is from Golden Valley, Minnesota. He earned a BA (Summa cum laude) from Carleton College (2008), where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned an MPhil degree in political science{{when|date=February 2025}} from St. Antony's College, University of Oxford.{{cn|date=February 2025}} He subsequently completed{{when|date=February 2025}} his DPhil in political science at New College, University of Oxford.{{cn|date=February 2025}}
Career
After completing his DPhil, he was a Fellow in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. Klaas has been an associate professor in global politics at University College London since.{{when|date=February 2025}}
In 2010, he was policy director and deputy campaign manager for Mark Dayton's successful bid for governor of Minnesota in 2010.{{Cite web |last=Donovan |first=Joe |title=How Brian Klaas went from Mark Dayton's driver to one of Trump's harshest critics {{!}} City Pages |url=http://www.citypages.com/news/gov-mark-daytons-former-driver-built-a-career-by-dissing-trump-on-twitter/454464923 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102135336/https://www.citypages.com/news/gov-mark-daytons-former-driver-built-a-career-by-dissing-trump-on-twitter/454464923 |archive-date=November 2, 2017 |access-date=2017-12-04 |website=City Pages}}
Klaas has been a frequent commentator in the media on US foreign policy and democratization. His articles have been published in The New York Times in 2015,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/opinion/talking-with-the-wrong-libyans.html|title=Opinion {{!}} Talking With the Wrong Libyans|last1=Klaas|first1=Brian|date=2015-06-14|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-12-04|last2=Pack|first2=Jason|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The Financial Times,{{cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/3827219b-9041-3b09-aa95-c6eba3240dd3|title=Playing politics with migrants – on both sides of the Mediterranean|website=Financial Times|url-access = subscription}} Foreign Affairs in 2016,{{Cite news|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/turkey/2016-07-17/why-coups-fail|title=Why Coups Fail|last=Klaas|first=Brian|date=2016-07-17|work=Foreign Affairs|access-date=2017-12-04|language=en-US}} Foreign Policy,{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/21/how-fake-democracies-damage-real-ones-madagascar/|title=How Fake Democracies Damage Real Ones|website=Foreign Policy|access-date=2017-12-04}} the Los Angeles Times in 2017,{{Cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-klaas-dirsus-leave-victory-in-britain-20160623-snap-story.html|title=The isolationist catastrophe of 'Brexit'|last=Dirsus|first=Brian Klaas and Marcel|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2017-12-04|language=en-US}} and The Guardian in 2016,{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/18/dictators-world-donald-trump-victory-russia-drc|title=Dictators around the world will delight in Trump's victory|last=Klaas|first=Brian|date=2016-11-18|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-12-04|language=en-GB}} He appears regularly on MSNBC,{{Cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d346XjkAPGY|title=MSNBC|last=MSNBC|journal=Foreign Affairs: America and the World|date=2018-01-15 |access-date=2018-01-15|language=en-US|issn=0015-7120}} CNBC,{{Cite news |last=CNBC |date=2018-01-15 |title=Foreign Affairs: America and the World |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgENsbr6bXw |access-date=2018-01-15 |work=CNBC |language=en-US |issn=0015-7120}} BBC,{{Cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCEJyIU6ARI|title=BBC|last=BBC|journal=Foreign Affairs: America and the World|date=2018-01-15|access-date=2018-01-15|language=en-US|issn=0015-7120}} CNN{{Cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0H1iJN5GuA|title=Trump's Travel Ban|journal=Foreign Affairs: America and the World|date=2018-01-09|publisher=CNN|access-date=2018-01-15|language=en-US|issn=0015-7120}} and other outlets.
Publications
- The Despot's Accomplice: How the West is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy, Hurst, 2016, {{ISBN|978-1849046879}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZIZDgAAQBAJ&q=The+Despot's+Apprentice:+Donald+Trump's+Attack+on+Democracy|title=The Despot's Accomplice: How the West Is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy|last=Klaas|first=Brian|date=2017-03-15|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190668013|language=en}}
- The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy, Skyhorse Publishing, 2017, {{ISBN|978-1510735859}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fmQ1DwAAQBAJ&q=The+Despot%27s+Apprentice%3A+Donald+Trump%27s+Attack+on+Democracy|title=The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy|last=Klaas|first=Brian|date=2017-11-14|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Inc.|isbn=9781510735934|language=en}}{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/the-despots-apprentice-review-brian-klaas-on-trump-and-the-danger-to-democracy-20171207-h00v42.html|title=The Despot's Apprentice review: Brian Klaas on Trump and the danger to democracy|first=Fiona|last=Capp|date=December 14, 2017|via=The Sydney Morning Herald}}
- How to Rig an Election, Yale University Press, 2018, {{ISBN|978-0300204438}}{{Cite book|title=How To Rig An Election|last=Klaas|first=Brian|date=2018-04-24|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9781510735934|language=en}}
- Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, Scribner, 2021, {{ISBN|978-1982154097}}
- Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters, Scribner, 2024, {{ISBN|9781668006528}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Cite news |last=DeVega |first=Chauncey |date=2017-12-24 |title=Scholar Brian Klaas on how Trump is an aspiring despot who is steadily eroding our democracy |url=https://www.salon.com/2017/12/24/authoritarianism-expert-brian-klaas-trump-is-steadily-eroding-our-democracy/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |language=en}}
- {{Cite news |last=DeVega |first=Chauncey |date=2017-12-19 |title=Author Brian Klaas: Is Trump an "aspiring despot" or a "bumbling showman"? Yes! |url=https://www.salon.com/2017/12/19/author-brian-klaas-is-trump-an-aspiring-despot-or-a-bumbling-showman-yes/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |language=en}}
External links
- [http://brianpklaas.com/about/ Official website]
- [http://www.lse.ac.uk/government/people/academic-staff/brian-klaas LSE profile page] {{dead link|date=February 2025}}
- {{IMDb name|nm8548134|Brian Klaas}}
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Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers
Category:Academics of the London School of Economics
Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford
Category:Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford
Category:American expatriate academics in the United Kingdom
Category:American expatriates in England
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:American political scientists
Category:Carleton College alumni
Category:Hopkins High School alumni