Robin Shepherd#The Commentator
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Use British English|date = December 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Robin Shepherd
| image =
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| caption = Shepherd at 2012 Halifax Forum
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1968|01|06}}
| birth_place = Ilkley, West Yorkshire
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| alma_mater = {{ubl|London School of Economics|UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies}}
| occupation = Political commentator and analyst
| years_active =
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Robin Shepherd (born 6 January 1968) is an Anglo-American political commentator and analyst.{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704204304574543671980025770|title=Another Vast Jewish Conspiracy. British media and society are gripped by lies about a "secret" Israel lobby controlling foreign policy.|last=Shepherd|first=Robin|date=18 November 2009 |publisher=Wall Street Journal: Opinion Journal|accessdate=16 May 2010}}
He is currently a Global Fellow at the Washington DC-based Wilson Center,{{Cite web |title=Robin Shepherd |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/robin-shepherd-0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521225535/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/robin-shepherd-0 |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 May 2024 |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |language=en}} and an Advisor at Strider Technologies,{{Cite web |url=https://www.striderintel.com/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=www.striderintel.com}} a leading cyber security and international intelligence firm based in Salt Lake City. Formerly a senior fellow, running the Europe programme, at Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) in London, he has also held fellowships with a number of leading think tanks in the United States and Europe including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Shepherd was Executive Director, North America for GLOBSEC, Central and eastern Europe's pre-eminent think tank dedicated to democracy and international security.{{Cite web |title=Robin Shepherd |url=https://www.globsecusfoundation.org/members/robin-shepherd/ |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=GLOBSEC US Foundation |language=en-US}} He previously served as vice president of the Halifax International Security Forum.{{cite news |title=By invitation | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160308111628/http://www.economist.com/blogs/certainideasofeurope/2007/09/by_invitation | archive-date = 8 March 2016 |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/certainideasofeurope/2007/09/by_invitation.cfm |work=The Economist |date=21 September 2007 |accessdate=11 November 2008 }}
Shepherd began his working life as a journalist, in which capacity he worked for Reuters and The Times.
Early life and education
Born in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, Shepherd attended Ilkley Grammar School, a state school in the north of England. He studied Russian at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies - which today forms part of University College London - and gained a master's degree in political theory from the London School of Economics.{{cite web | title = Robin Shepherd | url = http://henryjacksonsociety.org/author/robin-shepherd/ | website = henryjacksonsociety.org | publisher = Henry Jackson Society }}
Career
In November 2020, Shepherd authored [https://hfxchinahandbook.s3.amazonaws.com/EN_HFX+China+Handbook_FINAL_WEB.pdf China Vs. Democracy: The Greatest Game], a "handbook for democracies" designed to set out the challenge posed to the world's democracies by a newly assertive China. In the course of the research, he, and the team he led, spoke to more than 250 dignitaries across the world, including several former US secretaries of state, secretaries of defense and heads of the CIA. The handbook has been translated into Chinese and French.{{Cite web|title=China Vs. Democracy: The Greatest Game|url=https://halifaxtheforum.org/china-handbook/en/|access-date=2021-01-19|website=Halifax International Security Forum|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Robin Shepherd: On China at least, Joe Biden should follow the lead of Donald Trump|url=https://nationalpost.com/opinion/robin-shepherd-on-china-at-least-joe-biden-should-follow-the-lead-of-donald-trump|access-date=2021-01-21|website=National Post|language=en-CA}}
The early focus of his work was post-Communist transition in Eastern Europe and Russia, such as in his first book, Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan/St. Martins Press, 2000),{{cite news |title=Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution and Beyond |url=http://www.ce-review.org/00/34/books34_perrault.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001029230658/http://www.ce-review.org/00/34/books34_perrault.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=29 October 2000 |work=Central Europe Review |date=9 October 2000 |accessdate=11 November 2008 }} which dealt with the post-communist reform process. His research and commentary have since branched out into international security, transatlantic relations, European politics, the global democracy agenda, the impact of the digital revolution on politics and society, and the relationship between the Western world and the State of Israel. His second book, A State Beyond the Pale: Europe's Problem with Israel (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009), was described by one reviewer as "the best book on the Middle East conflict to appear in years".{{cite news | last =Conway | first=David|title = Review: A State Beyond the Pale | url = https://www.thejc.com/culture/books/review-a-state-beyond-the-pale-1.12222 | work = The Jewish Chronicle | date = 5 November 2009 }} Shepherd has also contributed to, and edited many other books and publications including Belarusian opposition leader Andrei Sannikov's biographical account of his time as a political prisoner in KGB jails and labour camps, My Story, which contains a foreword by Nobel Laureate Svetlana Alexievich.
Before entering the world of think tanks, he was the Moscow Bureau Chief for The Times. Prior to that he worked for eight years for Reuters in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and London.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}
Shepherd believes he lost his job at Chatham House, which has had an awkward relationship over the years with Israel and the Jewish people, due to his expressing a non-hostile position on Israel.{{cite news | last = Rocker | first = Simon | title = Chatham House man 'fired' because of pro-Israel book | url = http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/21472/chatham-house-man-fired-because-pro-israel-book | work = The Jewish Chronicle | date = 29 October 2009 }}
Books
- {{cite book | last = Shepherd | first = Robin | title = Czechoslovakia: the velvet revolution and beyond | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan | location = Basingstoke | year = 2000 | isbn = 9780312230685 }}
- {{cite book | last = Shepherd | first = Robin | title = A state beyond the pale: Europe's problem with Israel | publisher = Phoenix | location = London | year = 2010 | isbn = 9780753827130 }}
- Shepherd, Robin (2020). China Vs Democracy: The Greatest Game. Washington DC. Amazon.{{Cite web |title=China Vs. Democracy: The Greatest Game |url=https://hfxchinahandbook.s3.amazonaws.com/EN_HFX+China+Handbook_FINAL_WEB.pdf |access-date=2021-01-21 |website=Amazon |language=en-US}}
References
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Category:Alumni of University College London
Category:Alumni of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies