Dominic Tierney is Claude Smith professor of political science at Swarthmore College, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and an expert on American foreign policy.
Born in the north of England, he completed his doctorate at Oxford University and moved to the United States in 2003. He has held fellowships and academic positions at Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania.
He writes regularly for The Atlantic, where he was a contributing editor. His work has been published in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and he has appeared on NPR, the BBC, CNN, and MSNBC.
Follow him on Twitter @domtierney
Recent Commentary
“In Pursuit of the Harris Doctrine,” FPRI (September 24, 2024)
“Is US Aid to Ukraine Driven by a Brutal Logic?” FPRI (July 19, 2024)
“The Tyranny of Expectations,” Foreign Affairs (March 25, 2024)
“Why It’s Good for Europe to Argue with America,” Foreign Affairs (September 11, 2023)
“Biden’s Bombs: The Dance of Ethics and Interests,” FPRI (August 31, 2023)
“The Ukraine War and the New Global Liberal Order,” The National Interest (October 28, 2022)
“The Rise of the Liberal Hawks,” The Atlantic (September 4, 2022)
“How to Build Putin a Gilded Bridge Out of Ukraine,” Foreign Affairs (May 24, 2022)
“Forward March,” The Point (April 2022)
“What’s America’s Story of Afghanistan?” The National Interest (March/April 2022)
“‘Major American Failure.’ A Political Scientist on Why the U.S. Lost in Afghanistan,” TIME Magazine (August 18, 2021)
“The Future of Afghanistan Hinges on American Dollars, Not Troops,” War on the Rocks (June 1, 2021)
“No Exit: The Illusion of Leaving Afghanistan,” FPRI (December 16, 2020)
“How Putin Got into America’s Mind,” The Atlantic (September 13, 2020)
“Not Even the Coronavirus Will Unite America,” The Atlantic (March 25, 2020)
“The Left Should Play the China Card,” Foreign Affairs, with Tarun Chhabra and Scott Moore, (February 13, 2020)
Media Interviews
Books
“Brave and interesting"
Lawrence Freedman,
Foreign Affairs
"A great theme, beautifully written and compellingly organized”
Ambassador James Dobbins, former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe
Winner of the International Studies Association award for the best book of the year, and nominated for the best book of the decade
“A model of superb diplomatic history"
Justus Doenecke,
Diplomatic History
Recent Research Articles
“The Iron Dice: Fatalism and War,” International Security (Summer 2024)
“Us and Them: Foreign Threats and Domestic Polarization,” Journal of Conflict Resolution (April 2024)
“Forever Competition: The End-game of Sino-U.S. Rivalry,” International Affairs (January 2024)
“How Putin Tore Up His Playbook for Victory,” The Washington Quarterly (Fall 2023)
“Paper Tiger: The Enemy Image of America,” with Barak Mendelsohn, Survival (Summer 2023)
“The Democratic Embargo: Regime Type and Proxy War,” with Ryan Grauer, European Journal of International Relations (2022)
“Why does the United States Keep Helping Iran?” Orbis (February 2022)
“Why the United States is Losing—and Russia and Iran are Winning,” The Washington Quarterly (Fall 2021)
“Why Global Order Needs Disorder,” Survival (Spring 2021)
“The Future of Sino-U.S. Proxy War,” Texas National Security Review (Spring 2021)
“Bad World: The Negativity Bias in International Politics,” with Dominic Johnson, International Security (Winter 2018/2019)
“The Two Vietnam Wars: American Approval for the Use of Force,” Political Science Quarterly (Winter 2018/2019)
“A Weary Hercules: The United States and the Fertile Crescent in a Post-Caliphate Era,” Orbis (Summer 2018)
“Accidental Primacy: Balancing and the Path to Power,” International Relations (June 2018)
“The Arsenal of Insurrection: Explaining Rising Support for Rebels,” with Ryan Grauer, Security Studies (May 2018)