Peter Berkowitz

American political philosopher (1959-)

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Peter Berkowitz

31st Director of Policy Planning
In office
January 1, 2019 – January 20, 2021
President| Donald Trump
Preceded by| Kiron Skinner
Succeeded by| Salman Ahmed
Personal details
Born| 1959 (age 64-65)
Political party| Republican
Education| Swarthmore College (BA)
Hebrew University of Jerusalem (MA)
Yale University (PhD, JD)

Peter Berkowitz (born 1959) is an American political philosopher and legal scholar. In 2019–2021, he served as the Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State.[1] He currently serves as the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University and as director of studies for The Public Interest Fellowship.[2] He is also a columnist for RealClearPolitics.[3]

## Education

[edit]

Berkowitz earned a B.A. in English literature from Swarthmore College in 1981, followed by an M.A. in philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He then earned a PhD in political science from the Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Science and later a J.D. from Yale Law School.[4]

## Career

[edit]

Berkowitz taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at the Antonin Scalia Law School from 1999 to 2007, and political philosophy in the Department of Government at Harvard University from 1990 to 1999.[5]

In 1997, after Harvard University president Neil Rudenstine rejected the Department of Government's recommendation and denied his tenure, Berkowitz challenged the process by which Rudenstine reached his decision through Harvard's internal grievance procedure.[6] Eventually, in 2000, he brought a lawsuit for breach of contract against Harvard alleging flaws in both the tenure review process and the grievance procedure.[7] In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court dismissed his case.[7]

He is co-founder and director of the Israel Program on Constitutional Government and is a member of the policy advisory board at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.[8] He sits on the board of directors of the National Association of Scholars.[9] He has defended George W. Bush and neoconservative policies.[10] Berkowitz formerly served on the foreign policy advisory team in the Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign.[11][12] Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.[4]

### Trump administration

[edit]

On January 1, 2019, Berkowitz became the Director of Policy Planning in the Trump Administration.[13]

In October 2020 he tested positive for coronavirus following meetings with senior officials at 10 Downing Street and the Foreign Office in London, and with officials in Budapest and Paris. Some U.S. State Department officials were angered by Berkowitz's trip, arguing that it was unnecessary.[14]

During his tenure at the State Department, Berkowitz served as executive secretary to the Commission on Unalienable Rights.[15] During Berkowitz's tenure, the Commission produced a Report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, which emphasizes America's dedication to inalienable rights — the rights shared by all people — and the foundations of human rights that can be found across cultures throughout the world.[16]

Under Berkowitz's supervision, the Policy Planning Staff produced an unclassified paper, The Elements of the China Challenge, which described the reasons for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's focus on great power competition with China.[17][non-primary source needed]

### Author and columnist

[edit]

Following his tenure at the State Department, Berkowitz resumed his duties at the Hoover Institution and became a columnist at RealClearPolitics. He also writes for other publications and is the author of several books on political philosophy and on international law, most recently Constitutional Conservatism (Hoover Press, 2013).[18]

### Professor and lecturer

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In addition to teaching regularly in the United States and Israel, Berkowitz has led seminars on the principles of freedom and the American constitutional tradition for students from Burma at the George W. Bush Presidential Center and for Korean students at Underwood International College at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.[19] Berkowitz delivered the 2018 Scalia Lecture, "Liberal Education, Law, and Liberal Democracy," at Harvard Law School.[20]

## Bibliography

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* Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist (Harvard University Press, 1995).
* Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism (Princeton University Press, 1999).
* Never a Matter of Indifference: Sustaining Virtue in a Free Republic, editor (Hoover Institution Press, 2003).
* Varieties of Conservatism in America, editor (Hoover Institution Press, 2004).
* Varieties of Progressivism in America, editor (Hoover Institution Press, 2004)
* The Future of American Intelligence, editor (Hoover Institution Press, 2005)
* Terrorism, the Laws of War, and the Constitution: Debating the Enemy Combatant Cases, editor (Hoover Institution Press, 2005).
* Constitutional Conservatism: Liberty, Self-Government, and Political Moderation, (Hoover Institution Press, 2013).

Berkowitz has co-edited the Hoover Studies in Politics, Economics, and Society book series with Tod Lindberg since 2005.

## References

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1. ^ "Peter Berkowitz curriculum vitae" (PDF). George Mason University School of Law. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 4, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2011. Berkowitz attended Swarthmore from 1977 to 1981, according to his LinkedIn.
2. ^ "Peter Berkowitz". Hoover Institution. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
3. ^ "Peter Berkowitz | Author | RealClearPolitics". www.realclearpolitics.com. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
4. ^ a b "Peter Berkowitz". Hoover Institution. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
5. ^ "PeterBerkowitz.com". peterberkowitz.com.
6. ^ "Berkowitz appeals tenure denial". John Harvard's Journal. Harvard Magazine. March–April 1999. Archived from the original on 2011-08-11. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
7. ^ a b "Case dismissed". John Harvard's Journal. Harvard Magazine. September–October 2003. Archived from the original on 2007-10-05. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
8. ^ "About EPPC – Policy Advisory Board". Archived from the original on January 13, 2010.
9. ^ "Staff & Boards – NAS".
10. ^ Berkowitz, Peter (2007-11-14). "The Insanity of Bush Hatred". Opinion Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on 2007-12-13. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
11. ^ Lasky, Ed (July 11, 2007). "Rudy Giuliani's new foreign policy team". American Thinker. Archived from the original on 2007-11-20.
12. ^ "Candidate Giuliani names Berkowitz to foreign policy team" (Press release). George Mason University. 2007-07-12. Archived from the original on 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
13. ^ "Peter Berkowitz". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
14. ^ Jakes, Lara (2020-11-01). "U.S. diplomat coughs online, and European allies wonder if they were exposed". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
15. ^ Glendon, Mary Ann; Berkowitz, Peter; Anderson, Kenneth; Berman, Russell; Carozza, Paolo; Hanson, Hamza Yusuf; Pan, David Tse-Chien; Rivers, Jacqueline; Soloveichik, Meir; Swett, Katrina Lantos; Tollefsen, Christopher (2020-07-14). Report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights (PDF) (Report). Commission on Unalienable Rights. p. 59.
16. ^ Berkowitz, Peter; Glendon, Mary Ann (2021-01-07). "Commission on Unalienable Rights: Lessons Learned". RealClearWorld. RealClearPolitics. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
17. ^ Policy Planning Staff (2021-01-19) [2020]. The elements of the China challenge (PDF) (Report). Washington, DC: United States Department of State.
18. ^ "About Peter Berkowitz". PeterBerkowitz.com. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
19. ^ "Peter Berkowitz". Hoover Institution. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
20. ^ Berkowitz, Peter (February 9, 2018). Liberal education, law, and liberal democracy. Scalia Lectures. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Law School. Retrieved 2024-03-19 - via YouTube.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
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