Welcome!

It is my pleasure to have you on my personal website! Please allow me to briefly introduce myself and my work:

I am a political scientist, theologian, international affairs specialist, and former media executive with over 15 years of leadership at the intersection of global security architecture, foreign policy, and democratic resilience. My career bridges elite academic research, high-level government advisory, and international thought leadership, allowing me to act as a strategic sparring partner for senior political entities and C-suite decision-makers.

Throughout my career, my work has focused on the critical forces shaping the modern world order: US-China-Taiwan relations, democratic institutional resilience against populism, and the ethical governance of disruptive technologies. I have a proven track record of translating complex geopolitical and macroeconomic shifts into actionable foresight, having served as a Senior Policy Adviser to the FDP Parliamentary Caucus in the German Bundestag, delivering regular strategic briefings and policy papers on East Asian affairs.

As an academic and researcher, I hold dual doctorates (PhD in Language & Politics, ThD in Comparative Religion) and serve as an Adjunct Professor at New York University (NYU) and an Honorary Professor at Leuphana University. My research footprint spans world-leading institutions, including fellowships and senior appointments at the University of Cambridge (CRASSH & IRIS), the University of Oxford (Oxford Internet Institute), and Harvard University (Center for European Studies & Divinity School).

My field-based insights from East Asia are reflected in my critically acclaimed monographs, including "Code Red: China’s Belligerent Behaviour in the Western Pacific" and "Focus Hong Kong" (Hoffmann & Campe).

As an entrepreneur and media executive, I founded and scaled the debate magazine The European, leading the publishing house to a successful corporate exit. I have consistently used major international platforms to drive global policy discourse, amongst others, as a global columnist for Deutsche Welle (DW), analyst for Asian economies for Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a long-standing economic columnist for Wirtschaftswoche, and a guest contributor to The New York Times and Politico.

Furthermore, I advise premier global think tanks on institutional evolution in the digital era, serving as a Senior Advisor to the Berggruen Institute and formerly as a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Many thanks for your interest.

Sincerely,

Alexander Görlach

Explore:

Founder of Save Liberal Democracy

Saveliberaldemocracy.com is an online-magazine, launched at the end of 2016 featuring a series of interviews touching on the mechanics of what makes for a liberal democracy. The magazine aims to combate the populists in today's political arena. SLD has contributions from, amongst others, Noam Chomsky, Niall Ferguson, Francis Fukuyama, Steven Pinker, Danielle Allen and Vint Cerf.

Senior Fellow Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs

Alex, who is a Senior Fellow of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, was interviewed by Stephany Sy in the Council's series "Ethics Matter" about the threats to liberal democracy nowadays and how to combat populists.

Author for the New York Times

In September 2016 Alex became an op-ed contributor to the The New York Times, where he comments on developments in contemporary Europe. The op-ed "Germany's War over a Word" reflects on the Abendland (Occident) as a slogan for Europe's far right to demonize Muslims and refugees. In "Why Islam Gets Second-Class-Status," he discusses the legal framework of non-Christian religions in Europe.

TEDx Talk on how to save liberal democracy

In his TEDx Talk "How we save liberal democracy," from July 2017, Alex lays out how populists and autocrats of our time deploy their divisive rhetoric and unleash despising policymaking in order to destroy the liberal democratic order. He also shows ways how we could tackle their wrongdoing and prevent them from prevailing.