Ian Bremmer

Ian Bremmer was born on November 12, 1969, with the full name Ian Arthur Bremmer, and grew up in Boston.⁠[1][2]

He completed his undergraduate studies in the political science department at Tulane University, earning a bachelor’s degree in international relations, and is a member of the class of 1989 of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences.⁠[3][3][3]

He earned a master’s degree in political science at Stanford University and received a Ph.D. in political science in 1994, and was the youngest-ever national fellow at the Hoover Institution. Before and in the early days of his entrepreneurial career, he taught at Columbia University and held positions at the EastWest Institute and the World Policy Institute.⁠[4][2][5]

In 1998, he founded Eurasia Group with $25,000, aiming to help investors and business decision-makers understand the impact of politics on the risks and opportunities in foreign markets. The firm started with him as its only staff member, working out of a cubicle at the World Policy Institute in New York; it initially focused on the emerging states of the former Soviet Union and later expanded to every region of the world.⁠[5][6][6][6]

He created Wall Street’s first global political risk index (GPRI) and worked to establish political risk as an academic discipline.⁠[2]

In 2007, he was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and served as the founding chairman of the forum’s Global Agenda Council on Geopolitical Risk.⁠[2]

On October 9, 2008, Cambridge University Press published Managing Strategic Surprise: Lessons from Risk Management and Risk Assessment, which he co-edited with Paul Bracken and David Gordon, discussing how risk management methods can be applied to national security policy.⁠[7][7]

On March 5, 2009, Eurasia Group and Oxford University Press announced the publication of The Fat Tail: The Power of Political Knowledge for Strategic Investing, which he co-wrote with the firm’s director of research, Preston Keat. The “fat tail” in the title refers to seemingly improbable political upheavals that have an enormous impact on companies and investors.⁠[8][8][8]

On May 13, 2010, Portfolio published his book The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations? (ebook publication date), which later became a national bestseller.⁠[9][9][9][9]

On January 4, 2011, he and Eurasia Group head of research David Gordon announced that year’s Top Risks, naming the “G-Zero” as the top risk: no country or bloc of countries has the political and economic leverage to drive an international agenda, the United States lacks the resources to continue as the primary provider of public goods, and rising powers are preoccupied with problems at home.⁠[10][10][10]

On May 1, 2012, Portfolio published his book Every Nation for Itself (ebook publication date). The first edition was subtitled Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World, and the paperback edition published on April 30, 2013, was subtitled What Happens When No One Leads the World.⁠[11][5][11][11]

On November 12, 2012, Portfolio/Penguin published the ebook What’s Next: Essays on Geopolitics That Matter, written by him and Douglas Rediker together with a number of members of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Geopolitical Risk.⁠[12]

On December 2, 2013, New York University announced his appointment as a Global Research Professor, teaching at the NYU Stern School of Business and organizing lectures and seminars at the Center for Global Affairs of the business school and the School of Professional Studies; he continued to serve as president of Eurasia Group.⁠[5][5][5]

On December 18, 2014, TIME editor Nancy Gibbs announced that he would join as Foreign Affairs Columnist and Editor at Large, covering the global economy, geopolitics, and finance and writing two columns each week.⁠[2][2]

On May 19, 2015, Portfolio published his book Superpower: Three Choices for America’s Role in the World, which discusses America’s role in the world.⁠[13][13]

In 2017, he founded GZERO Media as a subsidiary of Eurasia Group to provide coverage of global affairs. Its products include the GZERO Daily newsletter, interview programming, and the political satire puppet show PUPPET REGIME.⁠[14][15][15]

On April 24, 2018, Portfolio published his book Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism, which analyzes the rise of populism across the world and appeared on the New York Times bestseller list.⁠[16][16][14]

On July 14, 2018, GZERO WORLD with Ian Bremmer, a weekly half-hour program produced by GZERO Media, premiered on WNET, New York and New Jersey public television. In it, he comments on international events, interviews world leaders and experts, and presents puppet political satire. From October 5 of that year, it aired on public television stations nationwide.⁠[17][17][17][17][18]

On September 5, 2019, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs announced that he would return as an adjunct professor to teach a new course, Applied Geopolitics, in spring 2020 for its Master of International Affairs program; he had most recently taught at the school in 2012. At the time, he was also the Harold J. Newman Distinguished Fellow in Geopolitics at the Asia Society Policy Institute.⁠[14][14][14]

On May 16, 2025, he delivered the keynote address at the undergraduate diploma ceremony of Tulane University’s School of Liberal Arts and received the school’s 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award. In announcing this, the school’s dean, Brian T. Edwards, mentioned his new book The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats—and Our Response—Will Change the World.⁠[3][3][3][3]

On January 5, 2026, Eurasia Group released Top Risks 2026, co-written by him and the firm’s then chairman, Cliff Kupchan, which named the “US political revolution” as the top risk of the year. In his view, the United States is itself unwinding the global order it built, and in their lifetimes they had never witnessed an American president so committed to and so capable of changing the political system.⁠[19][19][19][19]

On October 7, 2026, the Bloomberg TelevisionBloomberg TVBloomberg TV (officially Bloomberg Television) is a global business and financial news television channel owned by Bloomberg L.P. It provides live market news, analysis, and interviews, with separate programming for the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region.Open the full entry YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel published a video of his interview with host Francine Lacqua on the program The Pulse, titled “Will Trump & Republicans Get ‘Absolutely Hammered’ in US Midterm Elections?” On the program, he predicted that Republicans would lose control of the House of Representatives in that November’s US midterm elections and could also lose the Senate.⁠[20][20][20][20][20]

He also discussed the political risks facing President Trump and the Republican Party, against a backdrop of polls showing voter dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the economy and of “the Iran war,” as well as rising fuel prices and low approval ratings.⁠[20]

As of October 2026, he teaches at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, previously served as a professor at New York University, and is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He served as rapporteur of the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, has written eleven books in total, and lives in New York City.⁠[4][4][4][4][4]

Eurasia Group: Official website: https://www.eurasiagroup.net/ (opens in a new window).⁠[6]

GZERO Media: Official website: https://www.gzeromedia.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[15]

X: Public account: https://x.com/ianbremmer (opens in a new window)⁠[4][21]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianbremmer (opens in a new window)⁠[4]