Instructor Bio
Elan Journo writes and speaks for ARI on foreign policy issues. He is a senior editor at New Ideal. In addition, he is an occasional guest instructor at the Ayn Rand University. In 2012, he launched ARI’s Junior Fellows Program and led it until 2018.
Mr. Journo specializes in the application of Rand’s ethics of rational egoism to public policy issues, and his research and writing focus on the intersection of moral ideas and American foreign policy. His 2009 book, Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism, analyzes post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy from the perspective of Rand’s philosophy. He is co-author, with Onkar Ghate, of Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: From George W. Bush to Barack Obama and Beyond. He is a contributor to Defending Free Speech and A New Textbook of Americanism: The Politics of Ayn Rand. His latest book is What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
His articles have appeared in a wide range of publications, from Foreign Policy and Middle East Quarterly to The Hill and Los Angeles Times. He has been interviewed on numerous television and radio programs, and often speaks at conferences and universities.
Mr. Journo holds a BA in philosophy from King’s College, London, and an MA in diplomacy from SOAS, University of London.
Courses Taught
OGC: Advanced Writing and Editing
OGC: Oral Communication
The Ayn Rand Bookshelf
Experience
Instructor
- Ayn Rand University2005 – present
Program Lead
- Junior Fellows Program in Policy ResearchAyn Rand Institute2012 – present
Senior Editor
- New Ideal, the journal of the Ayn Rand Institute2018 – present
Selected Work
Articles and Essays
- Contributions to New Ideal
- “When Tribal Journalists Try to ‘Cancel’ Ayn Rand,” June 10, 2020
- “Why Ayn Rand Was Right to Testify Against Hollywood Communism,” July 24, 2019
- “The Virulent Pull of Tribalism,” May 13, 2019
- Jihadists: Understanding the Nature of the Enemy, New Ideal April 16, 2018
- “The Misunderstood Mullahs”: Book Review of Iran’s Deadly Ambition in The Claremont Review of Books March 31, 2016
- Book Review: “Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel,” Journal of International Security Affairs, February 2015
- Book Review: “Dancing with the Devil: The Perils Of Engaging Rogue Regimes” Middle East Quarterly June 2, 2014
- “Islamist Winter”: Book review of Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy in the Journal of International Security Affairs Fall/Winter 2013
- “Paul Ryan, Ayn Rand and U.S. Foreign Policy” October 2012
- “Galt Goes Global” August 28, 2012
Events
- Book Launch for What Justice Demands, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., July 24, 2018
- Leadership Program of the Rockies, Denver, CO, May 11, 2018
- “Twenty Years After Oslo: Where Next for U.S. Policy?”September 10, 2013
- Seton Hall University Panel on the Arab Spring, March 29, 2012
- Symposium: “9/11 — A Decade Later: Lessons for the Future,” September 8, 2011
- UCLA Conference: “The Philosophic Foundations of Freedom” January 30, 2010
Talks and Lectures
- The Jihadist Movement
- The Israeli/Palestinian Conflict
- The “Virtue of Selfishness”? Ayn Rand’s Ethics of Egoism in Your Own Life
- “An Introduction to Ayn Rand’s Ideas”
- “Our Unwinnable Wars?”
- “What’s America’s Stake in the Arab-Israeli Conflict?”
- Selected talks, podcasts and interviews on YouTube
Audio and Video
- “Does Success in Life Require Compromise?” October 16, 2019
- “Why So Many People Struggle to Gain Self-Esteem,” September 18, 2019
- America’s Stake in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, March 25, 2018
- Selected talks, podcasts and interviews on YouTube
