Alumni Confidential: James Goldgeier

You’ve had a stellar career, and it all began with a PhD from UC Berkeley. What first motivated you to go down the doctoral route?

The person who inspired me to get a PhD was Professor Joe Nye at Harvard, who recently passed away. He was an important part of my journey to where I am today.

I was an undergrad at Harvard, and Joe was my senior thesis advisor. I initially did political campaign work after college, but then decided I needed something a little more intellectual. I thought about going to law school, but ultimately concluded that wasn’t for me either.

I didn’t know what to do next, so I asked myself: who has a career that seems like it would be a great fit for me? I immediately thought of Joe. He traveled all the time, he was writing books, and he enjoyed teaching, all of which appealed to me.

I went to Joe and asked, “if I wanted a career like yours, what would I need to do?” He replied, “you need to get a PhD,” and gave me a list of schools to apply to. I was accepted into several, and I went back to him and asked where I should go. He told me: UC Berkeley.

I grew up in Baltimore and had never been to California. I received only one year of guaranteed funding from Berkeley and had fully funded offers elsewhere. But Joe told me I really needed to go to Berkeley for international relations, since they had two giants in the field: Ernie Haas and Ken Waltz.

I did what he told me. What did I know?

So you went to Berkeley. How then did IGCC play a role in your career path?

The big issue for me in grad school was funding. I barely had enough for one year, so I started working as a research assistant for Dennis Ross, who returned to Washington in 1986 and later became the director of policy planning at the State Department in 1989. Then I was a teaching assistant for a couple of years, but was always looking for external funding.

That’s when I came across this thing called IGCC. Its founder, Herb York, was hugely influential with respect to nuclear weapons issues and trying to dampen down tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

I applied for and received a dissertation fellowship from IGCC, which back then covered two years, my fourth and fifth at Berkeley. I had one more year to go after that, but I would have never gotten to the end in the first place had it not been for the IGCC fellowship.

What made IGCC special for me is that it’s a UC-wide entity. Through IGCC, I got to meet people I never would have otherwise—how else would I have known anybody at UCLA, UC San Diego, or UC Davis?

And the best thing—besides the funding and networking—was that IGCC is in San Diego. I got to go at least once a year during the fellowship. I had never been before and really enjoyed it. All the fellows came together on those trips so that we could meet and learn from one another.

During those visits, Herb York inspired us to really think about how scholarship might make a difference—not just for how people thought about the world, but for what they might do about it.

What came after the IGCC fellowship?

In my sixth and final year, I got a predoctoral fellowship at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Arms Control—now known as the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC)—which is very focused on taking scholarship and applying it to the policy realm. Then, in the mid-1990s, I had a 12-month fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations to work in the U.S. government.

Going into government allowed me to think more about how policy gets made and how scholars can be useful. I learned that trying to influence policy when things are moving quickly is difficult for someone outside of government, because you don’t really know what the conversations are on the inside. But what outsiders can do is establish relationships with people in government where they’re able to convey expertise and learn from the insiders.

How should academics who are just starting off approach forming relationships with people inside government?

For younger scholars, the goal should be to meet people at your level in government.

Over the next few decades, you’re all going to rise in your careers—the people I met 30 years ago are now in positions where it’s helpful for me that I know them. I met them so many years ago and they know all about the work I’ve been doing over this time.

Playing the long game is the most important thing for any scholar who wants to have an impact on policy.

You’re now at American University in Washington. How important is being in D.C. for building those relationships? Can scholars also do that from, say, California?

It’s certainly easier to do from D.C., but it can be done from anywhere, particularly through think tanks.

I’m involved with Bridging the Gap, an organization that promotes scholarly engagement with decisionmakers. We run a one-week summer institute that trains university faculty on how to influence the policy conversation, from writing op-eds and blogposts to doing podcasts, speaking with the media, and connecting with the executive and legislative branches.

We have a session on the think tank community featuring people from several organizations in Washington. Think tanks are a great vehicle for connecting with the policy community, and scholars don’t have to be based in DC to connect with one. They convene scholars and practitioners and are geared towards translating work being done outside of government for people who are working on the inside.

I’ve had a number of different think tank affiliations over the last 25 years. I love engaging with academic scholarship, but I also really love being in a think tank because they take that scholarship and apply it in ways that might be helpful to policymakers.

How can academics become involved in the think tank space?

A good starting point is asking if any of the work you are already using originates at a think tank. If there’s an author you’re reading, reach out to that person, tell them you’re learning a lot from their work and are interested in speaking. Most people are happy to respond.

Another way is to see if there are any projects that a think tank is developing that a person from outside of D.C. might get involved with. For example, I’m a fellow with the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. The center brings a lot of academics and policymakers together, often online, including scholars from outside of DC.

The first time I had a think tank connection was during a sabbatical after I got tenure at George Washington University. I had half of the year covered by the university for my sabbatical, but was looking to take a whole year of leave to write a book. So I wrote to every think tank in town saying: here’s who I am and what I’m looking for.

Brookings responded. They hosted me for the year and I wrote my book. It’s all about making those connections. But that’s true in academia as well.

That seems a bit daunting, writing to think tanks and hoping they respond.

It certainly can be. When I started out, I sent 30 letters and got one response.

But academics are used to that—academia is an environment where failure is the norm. When you’re applying for grants, submitting articles for publication, or applying for jobs, failure is much more common than success. You just have to keep plugging away.

You co-wrote a book, Foreign Policy Careers for PhDs, with Tamara Wittes, president of the National Democratic Institute. Why did you both choose to write the book?

It was something Tammy and I had talked about for some time. We’ve had very different careers. I’m primarily an academic, whereas Tammy knew when she went to grad school that she didn’t want to go into academia—instead, she’s worked at nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), in government, and at think tanks.

At Bridging the Gap, in addition to the faculty training, we also have an annual workshop for PhD students. Of the students who attend, many will go into academia, but not all—others will work in the private sector, NGOs, or government.

I’ve always felt that people who do a PhD should pursue their passion. And pursuing something outside of academia is not second best. It’s not a failure. People just have different things that they want to do.

I always resented hearing from faculty that they were angry with students for not wanting to go into academia. The prevailing idea was that didn’t reflect well on the faculty member. But this isn’t about the faculty member, it’s about the student. Where does their passion lie?

Tammy and I wanted to write something that brings both of our perspectives to bear. We wrote the book for people who are in grad school, or thinking about going, or have just finished their PhD. Many are not sure if they want to be an academic, or maybe an academic opportunity just hasn’t opened up for them. We wanted to explain the range of opportunities that are out there for them, which their faculty advisors might not be fully aware of.

What’s your advice for students?

The most important thing is to think about the kind of work you’re interested in doing. You can find lots of stuff outside of academia that’s similar to the lonely, scholarly work of the academy, like being a research analyst in the government, Intelligence Community, or Congressional Research Service. Working at a think tank is also pretty close to what it’s like in academia, except you’re not teaching.

But that’s not for everyone. Others may like working in teams better. Some people really want to pursue a mission rather than just solve a puzzle. For these people, academia might not be the right fit.

Personally, I like working alone to solve puzzles. I have more of an academic mindset, whereas Tammy wants to be out there doing stuff, leading a team. She’s in a challenging environment at the National Democratic Institute, but this is what she loves.

Any specific opportunities you’d like to leave readers with?

I hope PhD students will apply to Bridging the Gap’s PhD workshop, and that faculty will apply to our faculty workshop. We’re always looking to bring new people into our networks and create opportunities for engagement.

Similarly, I’m also involved with the International Studies Association, where we’ve created a new Research and Policy Section to give people an opportunity to pursue these issues within an academic and interdisciplinary context.

We also have a book series called Bridging the Gap with Oxford University Press, and we’re always eager for submissions for the book. I hope people will reach out.

And finally, IGCC is a really great place to get started through its dissertation and postdoctoral fellowships. IGCC helped me get my start and I’ll always be grateful for that.