Dr. Joshua W. Walker

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Senior Adjunct Fellow

Expertise: Middle East (Syria/Iran), Eurasia, Turkey, Japan, Asian Security Architecture, Public Diplomacy, Strategic Commercial Diplomacy

Dr. Joshua W. Walker is the Vice-President of APCO Worldwide, a leading strategic communications firm where he most recently helped set up its newest office in Tokyo, Japan along with overseeing its Global Programs consisting of 34 regional offices for the Founding Chairman and CEO. He is also a Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and teaches the Politics of National Security at the George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs. Before joining the private sector, he worked at the U.S. Department of State in Secretary Kerry’s Office of the Chief Economist and prior to this served in Secretary Clinton’s Global Partnership Initiative as a senior advisor. He has also previously worked on the Turkey Desk of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department, the U.S. Embassy Ankara, and for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the U.S. Department of Defense. Prior to the private sector and government service, Dr. Walker was an academic and think-tanker bridging the theoretical and policy worlds since his earliest days of growing up in Japan and pursuing a Fulbright fellowship in Turkey.

Dr. Walker serves in a variety of community leadership positions including international boards of civil society and non-profit organizations that promote values closely aligned to his own. These include Sister Cities International where he is on the national board Executive Committee leading young professionals for citizen diplomacy, Rhize where he is a founding board member creating an innovation hub for a global network committed to positive change, the Truman National Security Project where he focuses on next generation leadership development in international affairs, and the Mustard Seed Foundation where he is on the leadership committee for the Harvey Fellows program. Dr. Walker co-founded the Yale Journal of International Affairs, Young Professionals in Foreign Policy in New York, and the Project on Religion, Diplomacy, and International Relations at Princeton along with being an Aspen Ideas Fellow, Munich Security Conference Young Leader, Top 99 under 33 Foreign Policy Leader, Council on Foreign Relations Member, American Turkish Society Leader, Truman National Security fellow, and Foreign Policy Initiative Future Leader. Dr. Walker has been affiliated and taught at Brandeis University, George Mason University, Harvard Kennedy School, Middle East Technical University, Istanbul Sehir Merkez, Tokyo University, Transatlantic Academy, Princeton University, University of Richmond, and Yale University.

Dr. Walker earned his Ph.D. in Politics and Public Policy with a specialization on international relations and security studies at Princeton University. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Yale University, a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond and speaks both Japanese and Turkish fluently. Dr. Walker’s academic work is on issues related to Asian, European, and Middle Eastern affairs and specifically Turkey and Japan having lived in both countries for extended periods of time and being fluent in both languages. His recent publications include his co-edited books and contributions in China, the U.S. and the Future of Central Asia. (New York University Press, 2015), Understanding Turkey’s Kurdish Problem (New York, NY: Lexington Books, 2013), The Shifting Tectonics of Japan After March 11, 2011 (Washington, DC: GMF Press, 2012) and Turkey and Its Neighbors (Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner, 2011). In addition to his numerous articles, book projects, and policy briefs, Dr. Walker has written for a variety of print media including the Boston Globe, CNN, Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, Hill, International Affairs, International Herald Tribune, LA Times, New Republic, Politico, Washington Quarterly, and Washington Times. He is a regular commentator and contributor on international affairs for a variety of media outlets including Al Jazeera, BBC, NBC, NTV, TRT along with many others and is a Huffington Post blogger and War on the Rocks contributor.