Media related to Thomas Carothers at Wikimedia Commons
Thomas Carothers | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 28, 1956 |
| Education | Harvard University (BA, JD) London School of Economics (MSc) |
| Employer | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |
Thomas Carothers (born June 28, 1956) is an American lawyer and expert on international democracy support, democratization, and U.S. foreign policy.[1][2] He is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he founded and currently co-directs the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program. He has also taught at several universities in the United States and Europe, including Central European University, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Nuffield College, Oxford.[3]
Carothers has served in various senior management positions at the Carnegie Endowment, including as the interim president of the Endowment in 2021, and as senior vice president for studies for many years.
Carothers received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics where he was a Marshall Scholar and an A.B. summa cum laude from Harvard College. He speaks English, French, and Spanish.[4]
Prior to joining the Carnegie Endowment in 1993, Carothers worked at the law firm of Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC. Before that, he was an attorney-adviser at the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State from 1985 to 1988.[5] While serving at the State Department, he worked with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on democracy assistance in Latin America. This experience formed the basis for his first book, In the Name of Democracy: U.S. Policy Toward Latin America in the Reagan Years.[6]
His work has focused on international democracy support, including civil society development, political party assistance, rule of law assistance, and democratic transitions.[7] In addition to his research and writings, Carothers has consulted for and worked directly on democracy assistance programs for both private and public aid organizations.[8]
Carothers is the author of five books on international democracy and development assistance, as well as three edited volumes and a collection of his most influential essays. He has also written numerous articles for the Journal of Democracy, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other publications. His writings have been translated into many languages.[9][10]
