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Jordan Tama Provost Associate Professor Foreign Policy & Global Security

Contact
Jordan Tama
(202) 885-2332 (Office)
SIS | Foreign Policy & Global Security
School of International Service 309
https://calendly.com/jordantama/office-hours
Additional Positions at AU
Faculty Fellow, Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies
Senior Director, Bridging the Gap
Degrees
PhD, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; MPA, International Relations, Princeton University; B.A., Williams College

Bio
Dr. Jordan Tama specializes in the politics, institutions, and tools of U.S. foreign and national security policy making. His research has investigated polarization and bipartisanship, presidential-congressional relations, the use of economic sanctions, public and elite attitudes on foreign policy, national security strategic planning, independent commissions, and efforts to connect research and policy making on international issues.

Dr. Tama's publications include five books: Bipartisanship and US Foreign Policy: Cooperation in a Polarized Age (Oxford University Press, 2024); Polarization and US Foreign Policy: When Politics Crosses the Water's Edge, co-edited with Gordon M. Friedrichs (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024); Rivals for Power: Presidential-Congressional Relations, Sixth Edition, co-edited with James A. Thurber (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018); Terrorism and National Security Reform: How Commissions Can Drive Change During Crises (Cambridge University Press, 2011); and A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress, co-authored with Lee H. Hamilton (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2002). He has also authored numerous articles and policy reports; delivered talks in a dozen countries; and conducted many media interviews.

Dr. Tama is a leader in efforts to connect scholars to policy makers and convey policy-relevant research to public audiences. He is a Senior Director of Bridging the Gap and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. His work has been supported by the American Political Science Association, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, IBM Center for the Business of Government, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, National Science Foundation, Raymond Frankel Foundation, Social Science Research Center, and Woodrow Wilson Center.

Dr. Tama has served as a fellow on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the U.S. House of Representatives, a foreign policy speechwriter to former U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton, and a national security advisor to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
See Also
Jordan Tama's personal website
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Fall 2024

  • SIS-899 Doctoral Dissertation

AU Experts

Area of Expertise

U.S. foreign policy, national security strategy, sanctions, Congress, the presidency, bipartisanship, independent commissions

Additional Information

Jordan Tama specializes in the politics and process of U.S. foreign policy and national security. He has published three books: A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress (co-authored with Lee Hamilton); Rivals for Power: Presidential-Congressional Relations (co-edited with James Thurber); and Terrorism and National Security Reform: How Commissions Can Drive Change During Crises. Prof. Tama is non-resident Senior Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He has published articles in The New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, and other leading outlets, and has been interviewed by the BBC, CBS This Morning, National Public Radio, and other major news organizations. Outside of academia, he has worked as a senior congressional foreign policy aide, a foreign policy speechwriter, and a national security adviser to a presidential campaign.

For the Media

To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

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