| Fareed Zakaria | |
|---|---|
| Born | Fareed Rafiq Zakaria January 20, 1964 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Occupation | Journalist, commentator, author |
| Spouse(s) | Paula Throckmorton Zakaria |
| Children | Omar, Lila, Sofia |
| Notable credit(s) | Time magazine, contributing editor (2010) Fareed Zakaria GPS, host (2008–present) Newsweek International, editor (2000–2010) Foreign Exchange, host (2005–2007) Foreign Affairs, former managing editor |
| Official website | |
Fareed Rafiq Zakaria ( /fəˈriːd zəˈkɑriə/; Konkani/Hindi: फ़रीद राफ़िक़ ज़कारिया, Urdu: فرید رفیق زکریا; born January 20, 1964) is an Indian-American journalist and author. From 2000 to 2010, he was a columnist for Newsweek and editor of Newsweek International. In 2010 he became editor-at-large of Time magazine. He is also the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS, and a frequent commentator and author about issues related to international relations, trade and American foreign policy.[1]
In 2010, the government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contribution towards journalism.[2]
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Zakaria was born in Mumbai (then Bombay), Maharashtra, India, to a Konkani Muslim family.[3] His father, Rafiq Zakaria, was a politician associated with the Indian National Congress and an Islamic scholar. His mother, Fatima Zakaria, was for a time the editor of the Sunday Times of India.
Zakaria attended the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University,[1] where he was president of the Yale Political Union, editor-in-chief of the Yale Political Monthly, a member of the Scroll and Key society, and a member of the Party of the Right. He later earned a Doctor of Philosophy in political science from Harvard University in 1993,[1] where he studied under Samuel P. Huntington and Stanley Hoffmann.
After directing a research project on American foreign policy at Harvard, Zakaria became managing editor of Foreign Affairs magazine in 1992. In October 2000, he was named editor of Newsweek International,[1] and wrote a weekly foreign affairs column. In August 2010 it was announced that he was moving from Newsweek to Time magazine, to serve as a contributing editor and columnist.[4]
He has written on a variety of subjects for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and as a wine columnist for the web magazine Slate.[5][6]
Zakaria is the author of From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role (Princeton, 1998), The Future of Freedom (Norton, 2003), and The Post-American World (2008); he has also co-edited The American Encounter: The United States and the Making of the Modern World (Basic Books).
In 2007, Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines named him one of the 100 leading public intellectuals in the world.[7]
Zakaria was a news analyst with ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos (2002–2007); he hosted the weekly TV news show, Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria on PBS (2005–2008); his weekly show, Fareed Zakaria GPS (Global Public Square) premiered on CNN in June 2008.[1] As of November 2011, It airs on Sundays at 10:00am and 1:00pm Eastern Daylight Time.[8]
Zakaria self-identifies as a "centrist",[9] though he has been described variously as a political liberal,[10][11] a conservative,[12] or a moderate.[13] George Stephanopoulos said of him in 2003, "He’s so well versed in politics, and he can’t be pigeonholed. 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."[14] Zakaria wrote in February 2008 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".[15] He supported Barack 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 the American media.[10] 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.'"[9]
He has suggested that social media be used to collect ideas for amendments to the U. S. Constitution.[16]
Zakaria's books include The Future of Freedom and The Post-American World. The first argues that what we think of as democracy in the Western world is actually "liberal democracy," a combination of liberal constitutionalism and participatory politics. The protection of liberty and the rule of law actually preceded mass elections by centuries in Western Europe. Countries that try to simply adopt elections without laying these preceding conditions end up creating not "liberal" democracy but illiberal democracy, like Putin's Russia. His second book, published in 2008, before the financial crisis, argued that the most important trend of our times is the "rise of the rest," the economic emergence of China, India, Brazil and other countries that are rapidly gaining ground. Zakaria argued that their new-found economic power was altering the structure of global economics, politics, and culture. The phrase "post-American world," has now passed into popular discourse.
After the 9/11 attacks, in a Newsweek cover essay, "Why They Hate Us," Zakaria argued that Islamic extremism was not fundamentally rooted in Islam, nor could it be claimed a reaction to American foreign policy. It had its roots in the stagnation and dysfunctions of the Arab world. Decades of failure under tyrannical regimes, all claiming to be Western-style secular modernizers, had produced an opposition that was anti-Western, religious, violent, and increasingly globalized. Since the mosque was a place where people could gather and Islam an institution that was outside the reach of censorship, they both provided a context for the growth of the political opposition. Zakaria argued for an inter-generational effort to create more open and dynamic societies in Arab countries, and thereby helping Islam enter the modern world.[17]
Zakaria initially supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[12] 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."[12] He argued for a United Nations-sanctioned operation with a much larger force—approximately 400,000 troops—than was actually employed by the administration of President George W. Bush. After the invasion, he frequently criticized the way the Bush administration was running the occupation of Iraq.[18] He continued to argue that a functioning democracy in Iraq would be a powerful new model for Arab politics but believes that at this point, an honest accounting would have to say that the costs of the invasion and occupation have been much higher than the benefits. He opposed the Iraq surge 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.[18] In January 2009, he stated flatly that the surge "succeeded," militarily and did better politically than he would have predicted.[19][20]
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.[21][22][23][24]
Before the 2008 US Presidential election, Zakaria endorsed Barack Obama on his CNN program.[25] In May 2011 The New York Times reported that President Obama "has sounded out" Zakaria concerning Middle East issues in meetings with him.[26]
In his 2006 book State of Denial, Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward described a November 29, 2001, meeting of Middle East analysts, including Zakaria, that was convened at the request of the then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. According to a New York Times story on Woodward's book, the Wolfowitz meeting ultimately produced a report for President George W. Bush that supported the subsequent invasion of Iraq. Zakaria, however, later told The New York Times that he had briefly attended what he thought was "a brainstorming session".[27] He was not told that a report would be prepared for the President, and the report did not have his name on it.[28]
Zakaria is a naturalized American citizen.[29] He currently resides in New York City[1] with his wife, Paula Throckmorton Zakaria, son Omar, and daughters Lila and Sofia.
Zakaria was conferred India Abroad Person of the Year 2008 award on March 20, 2009, in New York.[30] Filmmaker Mira Nair, who won the award for year 2007, honored her successor. He has received honorary degrees at the University of Miami, Oberlin College, Bates College, Brown University, and Johns Hopkins University.
In January 2010, Zakaria was given the Padma Bhushan award by the Indian government for his contribution to the field of journalism.[31]
In 2005, Zakaria was awarded the Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize from the Anti-Defamation League ("ADL"). In July 2010 the ADL expressed its opposition to the Park51 Islamic cultural center and mosque, planned for a site that is two blocks from the World Trade Center site. Zakaria returned the award in protest, saying that he could not "in good conscience keep it anymore". In support of his decision, he stated that the larger issue in the controversy is freedom of religion in America, 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.[32][33][34] On the August 8, 2010, edition of Fareed Zakaria GPS, Zakaria addressed the issue, stating that in returning his award, he had hoped that the ADL would reconsider their stance.[34]
Zakaria has accepted invitations to give commencement addresses to the 2012 graduating classes at Harvard University [35] and Duke University.[36]
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