Bruce Jentleson

About Bruce Jentleson

Bruce W. Jentleson is William Preston Few Professor of Public Policy and professor of political science at Duke University and a non-resident senior fellow at the Council. He is currently the 205 IEN research professor at the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI) and was previously a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (also a distinguished fellow in residence). He was the longtime co-director and now senior advisor for the Bridging the Gap project, promoting greater policy engagement among academics.

Jentleson's career awards include the 2018 American Political Science Association (APSA) International Security Section Joseph J. Kruzel Award for Distinguished Public Service; the 2020 Duke University Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award; and the 1985 APSA Harold D. Lasswell Award for his doctoral dissertation. He holds a PhD from Cornell University.

His most recent books are Economic Sanctions: What Everyone Needs to Know and The Peacemakers: Leadership Lessons from 20th Century Statesmanship. He's written articles for The Washington Quarterly and Foreign Policy, and his work has been published in The Washington Post, War on the Rocks, The National Interest, The Hill, and Raleigh News, among others.

Jentleson has served in a number of US foreign policy positions, including senior advisor to the State Department Policy Planning Director, a senior foreign policy advisor to the 2000 Al Gore presidential campaign, in the Clinton administration State Department, and as a foreign policy aide to Senators Al Gore and Dave Durenberger.

His other research appointments include the Desmond Ball visiting chair at Australia National University, College of Asia and the Pacific; Henry A. Kissinger chair in foreign policy and international relations at the John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress; Oxford University visiting senior research fellow; Fulbright senior research scholar in Madrid, Spain; and Brookings Institution guest scholar.

In 2009, he was a program cochair for the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Political Science Quarterly, Washington Quarterly, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, and CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online). He is a co-editor of the Oxford University Press "Bridging the Gap" book series.

He has lectured internationally, including in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, the Netherlands, Qatar, Spain, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates. He's often quoted in the press and has appeared on such shows as the PBS News Hour, BBC, Al Jazeera, al Hurra, China Radio International, and NPR, as well as regional media in the North Carolina Research Triangle.