Joel H. Rosenthal

Joel H. Rosenthal (born April 28, 1960, in Brookline, Massachusetts ) is an American scholar, author, and institutional leader whose work has helped shape the modern field of ethics and international affairs. He is president of Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and editor-in-chief of Ethics & International Affairs, the Council's peer-reviewed journal published by Cambridge University Press. Over more than three decades, Rosenthal has become a leading voice on the ethical dimensions of foreign policy, war, democracy, emerging technologies, and global governance, combining academic scholarship with public engagement. He lectures widely at universities, policy institutions, and international forums in the United States and abroad.

Early life and Education

Rosenthal earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Harvard University in 1982, where he was awarded a John Harvard Scholarship for academic achievement (1979–1982). He subsequently completed an M.A. (1985), M.Phil. (1986), and Ph.D. (1988) in American Studies at Yale University. His doctoral research was supported by a Dissertation Year Fellowship from the Institute for the Study of World Politics, and he received Yale University's John Addison Porter Prize for a work of scholarship presented “in such a literary form as to make the product of general human interest.”

Academic and Professional Career

Rosenthal's career has combined scholarship, teaching, institutional leadership, and public engagement. He has held faculty appointments at New York University, Bard College, and Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where he taught international relations, ethics, and globalization.

Since becoming president of Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Rosenthal has overseen the organization's transformation into a global platform for scholarship and public dialogue on ethics in world affairs. Under his leadership, the Council expanded its educational and multimedia programming through the Carnegie Ethics Studio, developed the Global Ethics Network connecting scholars and practitioners across more than twenty countries, and significantly broadened the reach of its publications, events, and digital programming. The Council's programming has appeared on outlets including C-SPAN Book TV, MHz Networks, and CUNY TV, while articles published in Ethics & International Affairs have been assigned in university courses in more than 1,100 syllabi across 28 countries.

As editor-in-chief of Ethics & International Affairs, Rosenthal has helped shape one of the leading journals devoted to normative questions in international politics. His broader scholarship examines the relationship between ethics, political realism, democratic governance, and American foreign policy. His writing has addressed subjects including nuclear deterrence, just war theory, human rights, emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, climate governance, and ethical leadership, consistently arguing that moral reasoning should be integrated into the practice of international affairs rather than treated as separate from strategic decision-making.

Rosenthal has also expanded Carnegie Council's public profile through high-profile lectures, conferences, and partnerships. The Council founded Global Ethics Day in 2014, an annual international initiative promoting ethical reflection and leadership. More recently, the Council's Values & Interests series has featured programs on nuclear ethics produced in partnership with PBS Frontline. In 2025, the Council published Nuclear Complacency, a joint report with the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and Rosenthal hosted former U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines for the Second Charles W. Kegley, Jr. Annual Lecture on ethics and national security.

Throughout his career, Rosenthal has lectured extensively before academic, governmental, military, and international organizations, including the United Nations, Oxford University, Columbia University, the U.S. Naval Academy, the Yale Club, and numerous universities and policy forums throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.

Awards and honors

In 2013, he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in Social Sciences from the University of Edinburgh. The degree was awarded in recognition of his contribution to the field of international relations and ethics.

From 2010-2015, Rosenthal served as an honorary professor at the University of Copenhagen and in 2008 was appointed senior fellow at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership, U.S. Naval Academy. In 1988, Rosenthal won the John Addison Porter Prize, Yale University, for a work of scholarship presented “in such a literary form as to make the product of general human interest.”

Personal life

He is married to Patricia Barney Rosenthal and has two children.

Selected Articles & Multimedia

“Ethics 101” “Peace: What is it Good For?” "Compromises and Rotten Compromises: A Reflection on the Iran Deal" “Ethics and War in Homer’s Iliad”

Publications

“Economic Sanctions,” in International Encyclopedia of Ethics, ed. Hugh LaFollette (Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition, 2013) “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism,” in Civil Religion, Human Rights and International Relations: Connecting People Across Cultures and Traditions, ed. Helle Porsdam (Massachusetts: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012). Editorial advisor for Encyclopedia of Global Justice, ed. Deen Chatterjee (New York: Springer, 2011). Co-editor of Ethics and International Affairs: A Reader, 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2009). Ethics and International Relations (Library of Essays in International Relations Series, Ashgate Publishing, 2009) co-edited with Ethan B. Kapstein. Foreword in Ethics of Spying: A Reader for the Intelligence Professional, ed. Jan Goldman (Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2005). Political Theory and International Affairs: Hans J. Morgenthau on Aristotle’s The Politics Foreword, (Praeger Publishers, 2004) Foreword in Ethics and Statecraft: The Moral Dimension of International Affairs, 2nd ed. (Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2004) Ethics and the Future of Conflict, co-edited with Albert C. Pierce and Anthony Lang (London: Pearson, 2004). “A New Ethical Front,” Foreign Policy, July 2002. Foreword in Never Again?: The United States and the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide since the Holocaust, (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001). “Cycles of Moral Dialogue,” in Autonomy and Order. A Communitarian Anthology, ed. Edward Lehman (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000). “Henry Stimson’s Clue,” World Policy Journal, Fall 1997. “Ethics,” in Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations, ed. Bruce W. Jentleson et al. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996). “Private Convictions and Public Commitments,” World Policy Journal, Summer 1995. Righteous Realists (Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1991).