James Traub is a journalist and scholar specializing in international affairs. He is a columnist and contributor to the website foreignpolicy.com. He worked as a staff writer for The New Yorker from 1993 to 1998 and as a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine from 1998 to 2011. He has also written extensively about national politics, urban affairs, and education. His new book, What Was Liberalism? The Past, Present and Promise of Noble Idea, will be published in September. His previous works include John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit; The Freedom Agenda, on the American policy of democracy promotion; and The Best Intentions, on the United Nations under Kofi Annan. He teaches classes on American foreign policy and on the history of liberalism at NYU Abu Dhabi and at NYU. He is a fellow of the Center on International Cooperation and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.