James Kurth is the Claude Smith Professor of Political Science at Swarthmore College, where he teaches defense policy, foreign policy, and international politics. Kurth also became the editor of Orbis, a professional journal on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) in Philadelphia. Professor Kurth received his A.B. in history from Stanford University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University, where he was mentored by the eminent Samuel P. Huntington. Kurth taught at Harvard from 1967 to 1973 and has taught at Swarthmore since 1973. He has been a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey; visiting professor of political science at the University of California at San Diego; and visiting professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College. At the war college, Kurth was chairman of the Strategy and Campaign Department, an advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations' Strategic Studies Group, and the recipient of the Department of the Navy Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service. Swarthmore College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, with an enrollment of about 1450 students. ... Orbis is a Latin word for circle or sphere, by extension the world. ... The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) is a American think tank. ... The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University (or simply Stanford), is a private university located approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco in an [1] of Santa Clara County. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Samuel Phillips Huntington (born April 18, 1927) is a political scientist known for his analysis of the relationship between the military and the civil government, his investigation of coup detats, and his thesis that the central political actors of the 21st century will be civilizations rather than nation-states. ... The University of California, San Diego (popularly known as UCSD) is a public, coeducational university located in La Jolla, California. ... Logo of the Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC) of the United States Navy is an education and research institution that specializes in developing ideas for naval warfare and passing them along to officers of the Navy. ...

He is the author of nearly a hundred articles and the editor of two books. Kurth frequently publishes in The National Interest, The American Interest, The National Review, The American Conservative, Orbis, Foreign Policy and Current History. He has given testimony before committees of the US Congress on four occasions. His most renowned article is “The Real Clash,” published in 1994 in The National Interest, which asserts that the primary threat to the U.S. is not a clash with other civilizations, but an ideological and cultural clash within American society "between the multiculturalists and the defenders of Western civilization and the American Creed." The National Interest is a prominent quarterly international affairs journal, founded in 1985 by Irving Kristol and currently published by the Nixon Center. ... National Review (NR) is a conservative political magazine founded by author William F. Buckley, Jr. ... The American Conservative (TAC) is a biweekly magazine founded by Scott McConnell, Pat Buchanan, and Taki Theodoracopulos, and edited by McConnell. ... Orbis is a Latin word for circle or sphere, by extension the world. ... A foreign policy is a set of political goals that seeks to outline how a particular country will interact with the other countries of the world. ... Current History is the oldest United States publication devoted exclusively to world affairs. ...

Kurth has served in numerous think tanks, including the Council of Foreign Relations, Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, and The Center of Study of American and the West at FPRI. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is a think tank which describes itself as dedicated to increasing Americas understanding of the world and contributing ideas to U.S. foreign policy. ...

Kurth is an evangelical Protestant as well as a traditional social and political conservative. Accordingly, he objected to Operation Iraqi Freedom and the broader U.S. push to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East. Instead, in "Splitting Islam," Kurth recommends that the U.S. utilize the division between Sunni and Shi'ites to distract radical Islamists from attacking America and the West. Kurth is a Swarthmore enthusiast, but is widely-regarded as perhaps the only conservative faculty member among Swarthmore professors.

Current and former Swarthmore students widely cite Professor Kurth's classes as among the most interesting of their lives. Kurth is known for being meticulously organized, deliberately provocative, and loves to encourage intelligent argumentation among different ideological points of view. In particular, Kurth's opening day lecture for his acclaimed International Politics class is a campus legend.

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External link

• "The Real Clash," National Interest, Fall 1994
• Interview in Swarthmore Bulletin
• Various Articles By James Kurth
• Intercollegiate Studies Institute, "Conflicts in Liberalism and Security Issues"
• FPRI
• "Splitting Islam," The American Conservative, September 2005
• FPRI Appoints Kurth Editor of Orbis