The Post-American World

Fareed Zakaria is an Indian American journalist, television host, author, and former academic. Born in Mumbai, India, his father, Rafiq, was a religious scholar who took part in the Indian independence movement in the 1940s. Zakaria attended college at Yale University and was a member of the Scroll and Key secret society, second only in fame to Skull and Bones. He then received a PhD in government at Harvard, studying under the scholar Samuel Huntington, who became famous for postulating the coming of a “Clash of Civilizations.” At only 28 years old, Zakaria became managing editor of Foreign Affairs, one of the most widely read and respected American journals in the field of international relations. 

After teaching as an adjunct at Columbia, he moved to Newsweek, where in 2001 he published the article “The Politics of Rage: Why Do They Hate Us?” and established himself as a major public intellectual. Written in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Zakaria identified an Arab world convulsed by globalization due to the corruption and failed dreams of its leaders, leading desperate young men like the 9/11 hijackers to find meaning in a seemingly pure religious vision. After appearing regularly on ABC News with George Stephanopoulos as a news commentator and hosting Foreign Exchange With Fareed Zakaria on PBS, he became the host of his own CNN show, Fareed Zakaria GPS, which remains on the air as of the beginning of 2025.

In addition to The Post-American World, Zakaria has published books including The Future of Freedom (2003), In Defense of a Liberal Education (2015), and Age of Revolutions (2024). He writes for The Washington Post on all manner of political affairs, often insisting on the need for open debate and a focus on substantive issues like economics and healthcare as a means of addressing political polarization. He received criticism for a 2017 comment following an order by Donald Trump to strike targets in Syria that this was “the moment […] Trump became president of the United States” (“Zakaria: Trump Just Became President.” YouTube, uploaded by CNN, 7 Apr. 2017), with many objecting to the deadly use of military force as the ultimate example of presidential power. He has won a Peabody award, many honorary degrees, and the Padma Bhushan award from the Indian government for his contributions to journalism. He has three children and lives in New York City.