Anatol Lieven has a BA in history and a PhD in political science from the University of Cambridge. From 1986 to 1998 he worked as a British journalist, mainly in the former Soviet Union and South Asia. During this period he covered the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan, the Chechen war of 1994-96 and other conflicts.

In 1998-2000 he edited Strategic Comments at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. From 2000-2005 he was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC. In 2005 he became a senior research fellow of the New America Foundation, a position he continues to hold. Anatol Lieven writes a monthly column for the Financial Times, and is published frequently in other newspapers and journals. He is a member of the editorial board of the National Interest.

In recent years Anatol Lieven has worked chiefly on aspects of the “war on terror”, including contemporary US global strategy and its background in US history and political culture. In 2004 he published America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism (Oxford University Press and Harper Collins), a study of the history and nature of American nationalism and its impact on US foreign policy. His latest book (co-authored with John Hulsman), Ethical Realism: A Vision for America’s Role in the World, was published by Pantheon in 2006 and is appearing in paperback in 2007. It contains an analysis of America’s present strategic position, and recommendations for future strategy, drawing on the philosophical insights of Reinhold Niebuhr and Hans Morgenthau.

Anatol Lieven has travelled extensively for research in Pakistan and other parts of the Muslim world. He intends shortly to begin writing a book on Pakistan, and will also work intensively on the insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq.