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 Objectivist Academic Center. 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. 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
OAC (Year 3): Philosophical Analysis and Communication
The Ayn Rand Bookshelf
Experience
Instructor
- Introduction and Intermediate writing, Core CoursesObjectivist Academic Center2005 – present
Program Lead
- Junior Fellows Program in Policy ResearchAyn Rand Institute2012 – present
Writer & Editor
- Rand's ideas; Policy issuesAyn Rand Institute
Researcher
- Foreign policy; Middle EastAyn Rand Institute
Selected Work
Book Chapters
- “What should a distinctively American foreign policy do?” forthcoming.
Articles & Essays
- Contributions to New Ideal
- Jihadists: Understanding the Nature of the Enemy, New IdealApril 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 02, 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
- “World Upside Down”: Book review of Israel and the Struggle over the International Laws of War in the Journal of International Security Affairs Fall/Winter 2012
- Book review of Mugged by Reality: The Liberation of Iraq and the Failure of Good Intentions Fall 2008
- “The ‘Forward Strategy’ for Failure” Spring 2007
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 08, 2011
- UCLA Conference: “The Philosophic Foundations of Freedom” January 30, 2010
Talks & Lectures
- The Jihadist Movement
- The Israeli/Palestinian Conflict
- The “Virtue of Selfishness”? Ayn Rand’s Ethics of Egoism in Your Own Life
- “Why Everyone Has a Stake in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict”
- “An Introduction to Ayn Rand’s Ideas”
- “Our Unwinnable Wars?”
- “What’s America’s Stake in the Arab-Israeli Conflict?”
- “The Islamic World and the West Today” [lecture course]
- “Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict” [lecture course]
- “The Distinctiveness of an Egoistic Foreign Policy” [lecture course]
