Fareed Zakaria | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Zakaria in 2012 | |
| Born | Fareed Rafiq Zakaria (1964-01-20)January 20, 1964 (age 61) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Education | Yale University (BA) Harvard University (MA, PhD) |
| Occupations |
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| Employer | CNN |
| Notable credit(s) | Fareed Zakaria GPS, host (2008–present) Time, contributing editor (2010–2014) Newsweek International, editor (2000–2010) Foreign Exchange, host (2005–2007) Foreign Affairs, former managing editor |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Rafiq Zakaria (father) Fatima Zakaria (mother) |
| Relatives | Arif Zakaria (cousin) Asif Zakaria (cousin) |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan (2010)[1] |
| Website | Official website |
| Signature | |
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Fareed Rafiq Zakaria (/fəˈriːdzəˈkɑːriə/; born January 20, 1964) is an Indian-born American journalist, political commentator, and author. He is the host ofCNN'sFareed Zakaria GPS and writes a weekly paid column forThe Washington Post.[2] He has been a columnist forNewsweek, editor ofNewsweek International, and aneditor at large ofTime.[3]
Zakaria was born inMumbai, India, to aKonkani family.[4][5] His father,Rafiq Zakaria (1920–2005), was a politician associated with theIndian National Congress and a scholar interested in Islam.[6] His mother,Fatima Zakaria (1936–2021), his father's second wife, was for a time the editor of theSunday Times of India. She died during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[7]
Zakaria attended theCathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts fromYale University in 1986,[3] where he was president of theYale Political Union, editor in chief of theYale Political Monthly, a member of theScroll and Key society, and a member of theParty of the Right.[8] He later gained a PhD in government fromHarvard University in 1993,[3] where he studied underSamuel P. Huntington andStanley Hoffmann, as well as international relations theoristRobert Keohane.[8]
After directing a research project onAmerican foreign policy atHarvard, Zakaria became the managing editor ofForeign Affairs in 1992, at the age of 28. Under his guidance, the magazine was redesigned to be published once every two months, moving away from a quarterly schedule. He served as anadjunct professor atColumbia University, where he taught a seminar oninternational relations. In October 2000, he was named editor ofNewsweek International,[3] and became a weekly columnist forNewsweek. In August 2010, he moved toTime to serve as editor at-large and columnist.[9] He writes a weekly column forThe Washington Post and is a contributing editor for the Atlantic Media group, which includesThe Atlantic Monthly.
He has published on a variety of subjects forThe New York Times,The Wall Street Journal,The New Yorker,The New Republic. For a brief period, he was a wine columnist for the web magazineSlate, with the pseudonym ofGeorge Saintsbury, after theEnglish writer.[10][11][12]
Zakaria is the author ofFrom Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role (Princeton, 1998),The Future of Freedom (Norton, 2003),The Post-American World (2008), andIn Defense of a Liberal Education (Norton, 2015). He co-editedThe American Encounter: The United States and the Making of the Modern World (Basic Books) with James F. Hoge Jr. His last three books have beenNew York Times bestsellers and The Future of Freedom and The Post American World have both been translated into more than 25 languages. In 2011 an updated and expanded edition ofThe Post-American World ("Release 2.0") was published.
Zakaria was a news analyst withABC'sThis Week with George Stephanopoulos (2002–2007) where he was a member of the Sunday morning roundtable. He hosted the weekly TV news show,Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria onPBS (2005–08). His weekly show,Fareed Zakaria GPS (Global Public Square), premiered onCNN in June 2008.[3] It airs twice weekly in the United States and four times weekly on CNN International, reaching over 200 million homes. It celebrated its 10th anniversary on June 5, 2018, as announced on the weekly foreign affairs show on CNN.
In 2013, he became one of the producers for theHBO seriesVice, for which he serves as a consultant.
Zakaria, a member of theBerggruen Institute, additionally features as an interlocutor for the annualBerggruen Prize.[13][14][15]
Zakaria self-identifies as a "centrist",[16] though he has been described variously as apolitical liberal,[17] aconservative,[18] a moderate,[19] or aradical centrist.[20]George Stephanopoulos said of him in 2003, "He's so well versed in politics, and he can't bepigeonholed. I can't be sure whenever I turn to him where he's going to be coming from or what he's going to say."[18] In February 2008, Zakaria wrote that "Conservatism grew powerful in the 1970s and 1980s because it proposed solutions appropriate to the problems of the age", adding that "a new world requires new thinking".[21] He supportedBarack Obama during the 2008 Democratic primary campaign and also for president. In January 2009,Forbes referred to Zakaria as one of the 25 most influential liberals in theAmerican media.[17] Zakaria has stated that he tries not to be devoted to any type of ideology, saying "I feel that's part of my job ... which is not to pick sides but to explain what I think is happening on the ground. I can't say, 'This is my team and I'm going to root for them no matter what they do.'"[16]
Zakaria "may have more intellectual range and insights than any other public thinker in the West", wrote David Shribman inThe Boston Globe.[22] In 2003, former Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger toldNew York Magazine that Zakaria "has a first-class mind and likes to say things that run against conventional wisdom."[18] However, in 2011, the editors ofThe New Republic included him in a list of "over-rated thinkers" and commented, "There's something suspicious about a thinker always so perfectly in tune with the moment."[23]
Zakaria's books includeThe Future of Freedom andThe Post-American World.The Future of Freedom argues that what is defined as democracy in the Western world is actually "liberal democracy", a combination ofconstitutional liberalism and participatory politics. Zakaria points out that protection of liberty and the rule of law actually preceded popular elections by centuries in Western Europe, and that when countries only adopt elections without the protection of liberty, they create "illiberal democracy".The Post-American World, published just before the2008 financial crisis, argued that the most important trend of modern times is the "rise of the rest", the economic emergence of China, India, Brazil, and other countries.[24]
From 2006, Zakaria has also criticized what he views as "fear-based" American policies employed not only in combating terrorism, but also in enforcing immigration and drug smuggling laws, and has argued in favor of decriminalization of drugs and citizenship for presently illegal immigrants to the United States of all backgrounds.[25][26][27]
Referring to his views onIran,Leon Wieseltier described Zakaria in 2010 as a "consummate spokesman for theshibboleths of the [Obama]White House and for the smooth new worldliness, the at-the-highest-levels impatience with democracy and human rights as central objectives of our foreign policy, that now characterize advanced liberal thinking about America's role in the world."[28]
Before the2008 U.S. presidential election, ZakariaendorsedBarack Obama on his CNN program.[29] In May 2011The New York Times reported that Obama has "sounded out prominent journalists like Fareed Zakaria ... andThomas L. Friedman" concerning Middle East issues.[30]
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After the9/11 terrorist attacks, in aNewsweek cover essay, "The Politics of Rage: Why Do They Hate Us?", Zakaria argued thatIslamic extremism was not fundamentally rooted inIslam, nor could it be claimed a reaction toAmerican foreign policy. He located the problem in the political-social-economic stagnation of Arab societies, which then bred an extreme, religious opposition. He portrayedOsama bin Laden as one in a long line of extremists who used religion to justify mass murder. Zakaria argued for an intergenerational effort to create more open and dynamic societies in Arab countries, and thereby helping Islam enter the modern world.[31] He also hosted a 2016 CNN special titled"Why They Hate Us".[32][additional citation(s) needed]
Zakaria initially supported the2003 invasion of Iraq.[18] He said at the time, "The place is so dysfunctional ... any stirring of the pot is good. America's involvement in the region is for the good."[18] He argued for a United Nations–sanctioned operation with a much larger force—approximately 400,000 troops—than was actually employed by theadministration of PresidentGeorge W. Bush. However, he soon became a critic. In addition to objecting to the war plan, he frequently criticized the way the Bush administration was running theoccupation of Iraq.[33] He argued against the disbanding of the army and bureaucracy yet supported thede-Baathification programs.[34] He continued to argue that a functioningdemocracy in Iraq would be a powerful new model for Arab politics but suggested that an honest accounting would have to say that the costs of the invasion had been much higher than the benefits. He opposed the Iraqsurge in March 2007, writing that it would work militarily but not politically, still leaving Iraq divided among its three communities. Instead, he advocated that Washington push hard for a political settlement between the Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, and Kurds, and begin a reduction in forces to only 60,000 troops.[33] He later wrote that the surge "succeeded" militarily but that it did not produce a political compact and that Iraq remained divided along sectarian lines, undermining its unity, democracy, and legacy.[35][36]
Zakaria supported the April 2017U.S. missile strike against a Syrian government–controlled airbase. Zakaria praised PresidentDonald Trump's strike and said it was the moment "[he] became president of the United States."[37]
In July 2020, Zakaria was one of the 153 signers of the "Harper's Letter" (also known as "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate") that expressed concern that "the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted."[38]
In March 2021, Zakaria criticized the size of theU.S. military budget, saying that "The United States’F-35 fighter jet program, bedeviled by cost overruns and technical problems, will ultimately cost taxpayers $1.7 trillion. China will spend a comparable amount of money on itsBelt and Road Initiative...Which is money better spent?".[39]
In July 2022, Zakaria wrote aWashington Post article titled "Forget pronouns. Democrats need to become the party of building things", in which he said "There is plenty of evidence that the Democratic Party has moved left, that it is out of sync with Americans on many of these cultural issues, and that it needs to correct course" and that "This is not a perception problem. It is a reality problem. Democrats need to once more become the party that gets stuff done, builds things and makes government work for people. That's a lot more important to most Americans than using the right pronouns".[40]
In February 2025, Zakaria endorsed Pennsylvania SenatorJohn Fetterman for the2028 Democratic Party presidential primaries.[41]
Zakaria won theNational Magazine Award in 2010 for his columns and commentary.[42] His show has won aPeabody Award[43] and been nominated for several Emmys. He was conferredIndia Abroad Person of the Year 2008 award on March 20, 2009, in New York.[44] FilmmakerMira Nair, who won the award for year 2007, honored her successor. In January 2010, Zakaria was given thePadma Bhushan award by the Indian government for his contribution to the field of journalism.[45] In 2019, Zakaria was listed as one ofForeign Policy's "Top 10 Global Thinker of the Last 10 Years".[46] In 2020, Zakaria was awarded theInternational Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism.[47]
He has received honorary degrees fromHarvard University,Brown University,Duke University,Johns Hopkins University, theUniversity of Miami,Oberlin College,Bates College, and theUniversity of Oklahoma among others.[48] He was the 2000 Annual Orator of thePhilomathean Society of theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[49]
He has served on the boards of theCouncil on Foreign Relations, Columbia University'sInternational House,City College of New York'sColin Powell School for Civic andGlobal Leadership.[50] He was a trustee ofYale Corporation, the governing body of Yale University.[51]
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In his 2006 bookState of Denial, journalistBob Woodward ofThe Washington Post described a November 29, 2001, meeting of Middle East analysts, including Zakaria, that was convened at the request of the then Deputy Secretary of DefensePaul Wolfowitz. According to a story inThe New York Times on Woodward's book, the Wolfowitz meeting ultimately produced a report for PresidentGeorge W. Bush that supported the subsequentinvasion of Iraq. Zakaria, however, later toldThe New York Times that he had briefly attended what he thought was "a brainstorming session".[52] He was not told that a report would be prepared for the President, and in fact, the report did not have his name on it. TheTimes issued a correction.[53]
In 2010, in protest at theAnti-Defamation League's opposition to the building of thePark51 mosque and Islamic cultural center two blocks from theWorld Trade Center site, Zakaria returned the Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize awarded to him by the ADL in 2005. He declared that the ADL's opposition to the mosque meant that he could not "in good conscience keep [the award] anymore". In support of his decision, he stated that the larger issue in the controversy is freedom of religion in the United States, even while acknowledging that he is not a religious person. He also wrote that a "moderate, mainstream version of Islam" is essential to winning the war on terror, and that moves like the ADL's make it harder for such a moderate version of Islam to emerge and thrive.[54][55][56] On August 8, 2010, edition ofFareed Zakaria GPS, Zakaria addressed the issue, stating that in returning his award, he had hoped that the ADL would reconsider their stance.[57]
Zakaria was suspended for a week in August 2012 whileTime and CNN investigated an allegation of plagiarism[58] involving a August 20 column on gun control with similarities to aNew Yorker article byJill Lepore. In a statement Zakaria apologized, saying that he had made "a terrible mistake".[59][60][61] Six days later, after a review of his research notes and years of prior commentary,Time and CNN reinstated Zakaria.Time described the incident as "isolated" and "unintentional"; and CNN "... found nothing that merited continuing the suspension ...".[62][63][64]
The controversy was reignited in September 2014, whenEsquire andThe Week magazines reported on allegations made in pseudonymous blogs.[65][66][67]Newsweek added a blanket warning to its archive of articles penned by Zakaria, and after an investigation of his several hundred columns for the magazine, found improper citation in seven.[68][69] Similarly, after allegations surfaced on Twitter regarding the originality of one of Zakaria's columns forSlate, the online magazine appended a notice to the article indicating that, "This piece does not meet Slate's editorial standards, having failed to properly attribute quotations and information...".[70] However,Slate Editor-in-ChiefJacob Weisberg, who had, months before, exchanged barbs with one of the aforementioned anonymous bloggers on Twitter in defense of Zakaria,[71] maintained his original position that what Zakaria did was not plagiarism.[72]
Corrections to selected Zakaria columns were also issued byThe Washington Post, which had responded to the initial allegations by telling thePoynter media industry news site that it would investigate.[73] Later on the same day, November 10, thePost said that it had found "problematic" sourcing in five Zakaria columns, "and will likely note the lack of attribution in archived editions of the articles."[74] However, editors atThe Washington Post andNewsweekdenied that Zakaria's errors constitutedplagiarism.[72]
Zakaria is anaturalized citizen of the United States.[75] In 1997, Zakaria married Paula Throckmorton, a jewelry designer. The couple have three children. In July 2018, his wife filed for divorce.[76]
He lives on theUpper West Side in New York City.[77] As a graduate student, Zakaria fostered a love for cooking and credits chefsJacques Pépin andJulia Child with his greater interest in food.[77][12] Zakaria is a self-described secular and nonpracticing Muslim. He added: "My views on faith are complicated—somewhere betweendeism and agnosticism. I am completely secular in my outlook." His ex-wife is a Christian and his three children have not been raised as Muslims.[78][79]
In Fareed Zakaria's special Why They Hate Us, Fareed examines whether radicals are distorting the scriptures of theKoran for their own purposes.
